Mayflies Among the Dead
by Rialga
Summary: A day that started like any other has swiftly become a hellish nightmare. Unnatural creatures have appeared and with them, death was quick to follow. Only thing is, their victims don't stay dead for long. With the apocalypse now here, how was Takashi and his friends supposed to survive this? And why does it feel as if this was only the start of something worse?
1. Chapter 1

Here it is, my new fic! Man, felt good to start writing this, as it always does when starting something new.

To those of you who've simply chanced upon this fic, welcome! And to those of you that may have read any of my other fics, welcome back! Hope this one will live to expectations, both yours and mine!

And on that note, just want to say a few things. Firstly, this fic will probably – _probably_ – not be as long as my previous fics. This isn't going to be a goal or anything for me, but rather given what I do have planned, I simply don't foresee this fic being 50+ chapters long. But I've proven myself wrong before, so who knows, right? Ha ha.

On a second note… actually, I'll mention this at the ending AN, but it's not like it's a big deal per say, but rather just a bit of an explanation for this fic, not like it really needs one.

Now on one final note, although this is **LONG** overdue, I'd like to dedicate this fic in honor of HOTD's author, who sadly passed away before it was ever finished.

Now then… time to start!

P.S. Thank you to Jauneblacksmudge for the title! Thinking up one for this fic had been giving me way more trouble than I ever thought it would.

Mayflies Among the Dead Chapter 1

Takashi awoke with a start, all but gasping for air as if he'd been deprived of it. "Fuck…" he muttered, feeling so very much like shit.

It was the middle of the day, which was turning out to be just like any other, which is to say, another boring day at Fujimi High School. He'd skipped class and had headed for this little stairway that no one ever really used due to how far away it was.

He hadn't been expecting to suddenly fall asleep against the wall though. But then, he had been getting very little sleep lately, so maybe he should've seen this coming.

With a great big sigh, he stood up and leaned against the rails, looking over the front area of the school along with a good portion of the city.

But he could scarcely bring himself to actually focus, the otherwise enticing sight just barely registering to him.

"Man, what a day so far…" he mumbled, saying this with a level of exhaustion that not even his lack of sleep could explain.

For the past several years, life had become extremely routine for him – wake up, freshen up, eat breakfast with his parents with only his dad kindly talking with him while his mom all but ignored him, head to school, suffer through class, see Rei hang out with Hisashi, deal with Saya's usual lectures, then head back home where he'd continue to feel alone until he went to bed. The only times this routine was broken was when he hung out with some of the other slackers here at school like Morita.

In and of itself, this wasn't much, but when it accumulated for years like this, not even a stubborn guy like him can't help but feel depressed nowadays, clinically so.

But he wasn't about to let life get him down just yet, even if losing his childhood friend, Rei, to Hisashi had been a major blow to his feelings, if only because Rei had started to treat him pretty harshly after some incident. Sure wished he knew what exactly this incident was though, since Rei hadn't bothered explaining it to him in favor of stiffing him whenever they saw each other.

However, it wasn't this that had gotten his attention so recently. Honestly, he's reached that point where his feelings for Rei, whatever exactly said feelings had been, had started to just die off. No, what had him feeling so beaten down recently were his nightmares.

If only he could remember what his nightmares actually were about. All he knew was that he'd sleep fitfully and filled with fear before eventually waking up in a cold sweat, unable to remember what exactly had caused this in him. Thanks to this bullshit, he'd only been getting around two hours of sleep every night for the past several weeks and he was really feeling worn down as a result. Sleeping like this in school was just about the only times he could get a few more z's than normal, but it was nowhere near enough.

Takashi sighed. Class was barely halfway done right now, but once they ended, it'd be lunchtime and that meant Saya, his other childhood friend, would start gunning for him, eager for another lecture, filled with her usual putdowns. He figured he could go back to class, just face the music and get this over with sooner than usual but going back to class meant seeing not just Saya, but also Hisashi and Rei too. Why exactly Rei had been held back a year, he didn't know exactly, but he knew for sure it had to do with whatever incident had happened with her. But that aside…

…Time to beat a retreat in advance.

So he took the stairs up to the roof and slammed the door hard behind him, hoping it'd get stuck in place.

Up here in his little safe haven now, he took a deep breath and looked straight up, as if trying to divine answers from the sky above. Obviously, no answers were forthcoming for any life-changing questions, let alone his own personal ones.

He now planned to just ride out the rest of the day up here. Saya would get mad at him and so would his teachers – again – but not really his parents. His dad would be rather chill about this and his mom simply wouldn't care, just huff at him being a troublemaker and go about her business. In any case, it was only really his parents' opinion of his slacking that mattered anymore, so he was cool with this.

Takashi now walked up to the roof's railings and leaned over it rather dangerously, but only for a second before readjusting his position.

The walk up here had helped to wake him up more fully, helped him focus just a bit more and now he was able to appreciate the view of the city the roof offered.

But it was really damned odd, scarily so even – normally, the view from up here always calmed him down for some reason, made him feel at peace and even feel curious too. But as he looked out towards the city, he began to feel really nervous.

"…What's going on?"

Off in the distance, he could make out several sources of thick smoke rising from the city and forming clouds.

Was there a fire going on? Would explain the smoke, but that couldn't be it – the streams of smoke were too spread out to be originating from the same fire, if that really was the case.

He got so distracted by the rising smoke that it took a minute for him to then realize there was a bit of a commotion going on right by the school gates.

Looking down, he saw some teachers approaching the school. There was Teshima-sensei, who taught history and a few others he didn't recognize. They seemed to be talking pretty loudly amongst themselves about something.

That was when he finally saw what had their attention. And when he did, he nearly blinked, convinced for half a second that his mind was trying to fuck with him.

"I-Is that… supposed to be a dog?"

It sure looked like one and it looked like it was resting right outside the school gate. But that's the thing. It _looked_ like a dog, but only a little bit. Its body seemed too large and muscular to be any kind of dog that he knew of… and it didn't seem to have any fur either.

One of the teachers, Teshima-sensei, stepped forward bravely. Looks like he intended to rouse the dog from its sleep and make it go elsewhere. Can't have something like that leaning against the school gate like that, especially when it clearly wasn't an average dog.

The teacher reached out and gently roused it but got no response. Takashi then continued to watch with a growing unease as Teshima-sensei kept trying to make it wake up and move, but with no success.

Eventually, the teacher got fed up and gave it a pretty harsh shove-.

-And that had been when something finally happened.

Alarm bells were going off in Takashi's head just milliseconds before it occurred too, but it wasn't as if he could yell out for the teachers to look out or anything.

It simply happened too fast.

The 'dog' suddenly stood up, revealing itself to be almost as big as Teshima-sensei, who wasn't a small guy. As it did so, it rammed against the gate – and knocked it down.

Where its face should be was nothing but teeth, large and jagged and it clamped down on the teacher's shoulder and _pulled_.

And just like that, most of Teshima's left shoulder was simply gone, muscle and bone, mangled as they were, now visible while blood poured out of the grave injury.

The other teachers there screamed at the sight and faster than any of them could react, the 'dog' dashed past them all right onto the school campus.

Takashi watched all this, completely frozen. He was definitely wide awake now and he failed to comprehend what was going on.

But he was able to understand just one thing – that monster, for there was clearly no other way to describe it, filled him with indescribable fear.

And now it was loose here on the fucking campus.

He had to do something, had to warn others somehow. And the instant this thought occurred, he was able to move again…

…But not before seeing something else that was equally absurd.

Teshima-sensei had died, the wound too big and grave for him to have endured it. Blood surrounded him and the other teachers there, with one holding on to the history teacher's body while some of the others pulled out phones and tried to call for help.

The history teacher was clearly dead. Even from all the way up here, that was pretty obvious. And yet, despite this, the new corpse began to convulse violently for several seconds.

And then it started to actually move.

Teshima-sensei's eyes were now pale, as if he were blind, but that didn't stop him from suddenly grabbing the teacher holding him and biting into the man's jugular, blood spurting out like a fountain when the history teacher pulled away with the entirety of the throat.

More screaming occurred at that moment.

But unlike just a moment ago, this absurdity didn't make Takashi freeze. Instead, it compelled him to act a hell of a lot faster.

He bolted for the door and threw it open, glad that his attempt earlier to get it stuck had failed. He all but leapt down the stairs, nearly tumbling as he landed, but he just kept on going.

Not to the principal's office to any of the other nearby classes as he reached the hallway.

Instead, he headed for just one class in particular:

His own.

Rei. Hisashi. Saya… he had to get to them.

His pace picked up substantially when roars began to occur, all of which seemed to be coming from near the school and even the city itself.

And that was when the screaming started too.

* * *

Rei Miyamoto considered today to be like any other day for the most part. She came to school, met up with her boyfriend and headed to class together and ignored Takashi – "that idiot" she muttered – and put up with classes that she's already gone through once before thanks to that bastard Shido.

But her consideration of this being yet another day came to a pretty abrupt end just a moment ago, when those roars had suddenly occurred.

God, what inhuman roars they'd been, having rattled her down to the bones.

She hadn't been the only one affected; the rest of the class had all but ceased listening to their teacher and were muttering to one another, wondering what the hell was going on. Even their teacher seemed disturbed and looked ready to excuse himself to go inquire about whatever the situation was.

However, just as a minute passed by without anyone doing much of anything, the door to their classroom slammed open and in walked Takashi, looking like a man on a mission…

…And he was heading straight for her.

The teacher called out to him, clearly annoyed, but Takashi paid him no mind and instead grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up and out of her seat.

"Come on, we're getting out of here!" he exclaimed. And as if as an afterthought, he turned to the stunned class. "You all better scram too!"

Naturally, no one took this lying down, Rei included. "Hey, back off!"

"What're you doing, Komuro?!" Ah, there was Saya standing up now.

But at both her words and Saya's, Takashi didn't let go. If anything, he pulled harder.

The rest of the class watched on uneasily, some jeering but doing so uncertainly. They were all spooked by something.

But Hisashi wasn't. He was out of his seat and gripping Takashi's forearm tightly. "What're you doing to Rei, Takashi?!"

Takashi leaned in close to her boyfriend. "There's been a murder at the front gate… and there's something roaming around on campus now."

The words froze her and her boyfriend in place. "…For real?" Hisashi asked.

"Why'd I lie about something like that?" Takashi all but growled. He then gave her another tug.

And this snapped her back into consciousness. "H-Hey, hold up, you can't just say something like that and expect me to listen!" She pulled back and broke free of his grip. She outright snarled. Just what was up with Takashi here. "You better explain yourse-!"

His hand blurred and an instant later, she felt pain in the side of her face. Takashi had _slapped her._

"Just shut up and move! There's no time for your bullshit!" He sounded desperate rather than angry and somehow, that rattled her more than the slap did.

"…Sensei, excuse us for a minute," Hisashi then said to a shocked teacher and class before swiftly grabbing them both and moving them out of the classroom.

Once they were out of there, Takashi turned and almost started to run off with them in tow – but Hisashi managed to stop him from doing so.

"Takashi, hold up," he said. "Now can you tell us what's going on?"

"Damn it, there's been a murder outside! A teacher got bit and then he died and now the other teachers out there are probably being killed!"

"You're so full of it!" Rei shouted. Seriously, did Takashi think she was going to believe that? He's hardly ever given her reason to believe him before for anything else!

He bristled and looked ready to speak or drag her and Hisashi away again, but before he did, there was another roar and it sounded nearby.

Like, really nearby.

And there was something else too.

"Moaning?" Hisashi muttered.

"Well there you go," Takashi said with open arms. "Some proof. Wanna stick around to meet it? Or do you wanna escape instead?!"

"…Alright. Rei, let's go," Hisashi muttered, gently goading her into running.

And now all three of them made a break for it.

"W-Wait! Let's just call my dad first! He's an inspector!" She tried to plead with them even as they all ran.

"Fine, whatever, but don't stop running!" Takashi yelled.

Huffing, she pulled out her phone without slowing much and called the police.

She all but stumbled from shock at what she ended up hearing.

"Th-the phoneline… it's busy," she said, genuinely shaken. "There's a huge number of 911 calls…"

Both her boyfriend and former friend were deathly silent at the news and just kept on running.

The moaning from before got louder…

And soon they saw the source.

"That's one of the language arts teachers!" Hisashi said as the person came into view from around the corner.

Rei recognized him too – Wakisaka was his name.

And he wasn't looking well. His eyes were all but bulging out of the sockets and the pupils looked murky, as if he were blind. Blood dripped forth from his nostrils and mouth and onto his button up shirt. His skin was pale and getting paler by the second.

He moaned and now that he was this close, it sounded absolutely horrific, just unlike anything she's ever heard before.

And he wasn't the only one either. One after another, from around the same corner came other teachers and even students in similar states, moaning as well.

It was only then that Rei noticed a number of them sporting injuries that made her almost gag.

Bite marks, or at least what looked like bite marks, littered over all their bodies. Some were small and others were big. Some sported only one and others sported many.

…those injuries were deep and clearly fatal. By all rights, a lot of these people should be fucking _dead_.

But they weren't. Here they were instead, shambling towards them. Even as blood slowly oozed out of the wounds, they didn't slow one bit.

At the sight of this, she and the others could stay rooted in place, Hisashi standing defensively out in front of her while Takashi backed up next to them.

"Stay quiet," Takashi said. "Doesn't seem like they've noticed us for some reason. Just stay fucking quiet and back up-."

"-What is going on out there?" uttered a student from one of the nearby classrooms. A second year just like them, some girl that none of them knew.

When she poked her head out and saw the large group of people that should be dead so close by, she let out a loud and startled scream.

That was when all hell truly broke loose.

* * *

"The stairs!" Hisashi found himself exclaiming just as the girl screamed.

The very second she screamed, those things – no way they could be people anymore, they just couldn't – outright changed before his very eyes.

Before, they'd simply been shambling along, like… like zombies. But then upon hearing that scream, they all screamed too, with a mindless fury and hunger that almost made him piss his pants if he hadn't reacted otherwise.

Even their expressions had shifted from dull and lifeless to ones of absolute and ravenous rage. And an instant later, they'd been upon that poor girl with hands and teeth, which only caused those in that classroom to scream and make them move.

Jesus, just how could those things suddenly move so fast?!

By the time he'd grabbed Rei and had led her and Takashi down the stairs nearby, the end of the hallway those things had come from was already swiftly becoming a small sea of blood.

He ran down the steps as fast as he could, doing his best not to scream at the insanity he'd just seen. Takashi was right by his side, looking pale and frightened but admirably remaining dead quiet.

Sadly, the same couldn't be said for his girlfriend, who screamed shrilly at what she'd just seen. Not like he could blame her, really.

Still, that didn't mean he could panic when he heard those same cries of rage now occurring throughout the other floors.

"ohshitohshitohshitoshitoshit!" Takashi mumbled from beside him when they all but ran right into one more of those- of those things.

What used to be guy from the looks of it, but with most of his organs spill out and dangling from the front of his chest and stomach, which looked as if he'd been quite the feast for a small group of those things.

The thing roared and charged right at Takashi, but Takashi managed to stumble out of the way in time for the thing to go and tumble right over the stair rails down to the bottommost floor, hitting the floor with a sickening crack that echoed up to them.

Hisashi didn't know if that took care of that one, but the sound just seemed to attract more of those things on the bottom floor and sure enough just seconds later, a dozen of them started charging up the stairs.

"Fuck! This way!" Takashi exclaimed, slapping him on the shoulder to get him to follow.

Hisashi obliged instantly, tugging on a stunned Rei.

The three of them ran down the hallway they'd been forced onto.

"W-Where are we even going?!" Rei finally managed to say.

"The stairway on the other side of the school! The one out in the open! We can jump from there!" Takashi answered in between breaths as they ran.

Hisashi knew where Takashi was talking about. From what he recalled, his friend here liked to hang out by himself there pretty often recently.

"Are you out of mind?! You want us to jump?!" Rei hissed, mercifully in a quieter voice than usual. She seemed to understand almost instinctively now not to be too loud lest she just get those things' attention.

Not like she had much to worry about anymore since there was plenty of screaming going on now throughout the rest of the school. Those things moved fast indeed. Too fast.

"You'd rather get eaten?!" Takashi shot back hotly. "Not like the distance to the ground is that dangerous!"

"Wait up, at least get a weapon or two first!" Hisashi interjected here and now before they got too close to the stairs. "If we ended up having to push past those things, doing it barehanded won't work!"

He'd take up Karate in the past, got himself a belt in it too so it wasn't as if he was helpless in a fistfight. But against those things, with their numbers and ferocity? Screw that.

"-Janitor's closet then! This way!" Takashi skidded and swerved as he headed down another hallway that Hisashi was quick to follow along with Rei.

Not even half a minute later, they found what they were looking for. It was locked, but Hisashi quickly stepped forward and gave it a strong kick to force it open. It made a good bit of noise, but the ongoing screaming, as nightmarish as it was to listen to it still, proved helpful in covering up the sound.

He then reached in and pulled out a mop to hand to Rei, but not before breaking off the mop part itself in order to essentially turn it into a spear. He handed it to her and quickly looked inside the janitor closet again, which was filled with a bunch of stuff.

"Damn it!" he muttered, trying not to panic. There was a lot of random junk in here. Not exactly a good thing when they had to get out of here pronto.

"Try and look for a couple of bats in there – this janitor is a bit of a hoarder, so he's got to have some in there," spoke Takashi.

Despite himself, Hisashi snorted in bemusement. "Let me guess, your time slacking around let be buddy-buddy with this guy?"

"Nah, not really." Takashi grinned a bit. It was forced one, but some of the tension visibly left him as he did so. "But we talked here and there while I walked around. He also carries around some weed in there too. Apparently, he found it somewhere out by the baseball field some time ago."

"Heh, always thought some of those guys looked a little out of it." He paused for a second as he kept searching. "Got them!"

Sure enough, he found a few baseball bats. This janitor really was a hoarder and it sure was a handy thing to know now.

He tossed one gently to Takashi and kept one for himself.

"Alright, now let's go-."

He got cut off when a sound that drowned out all else occurred. It was a growl, an insanely loud one at that. It sounded completely surreal, well beyond what the human lungs and throat could ever produce. Not even those things from earlier would ever be capable of such a sound.

It was a wet and sickening growl, as if something was trying to gurgle and yell at the same exact time.

And it was coming from the floor directly above them.

"W-W-What in the world was that?" Rei whispered, the fight she had in her earlier completely gone now in the wake of these events.

"Don't know, don't care to find out," Hisashi declared firmly. "Come on, let's go before it comes down here."

He started to run for the stairs, Rei swiftly following behind. However, he came to a stop well before he could even gain much speed.

"Takashi? Come on, we need to move!" His friend had remained still, almost as if he was now a statue.

"Takashi…?" he called out slowly, worried.

Just what was going on now?

* * *

Takashi hadn't meant to freeze up like that, but he simply couldn't help it when he heard that growl. A powerful sense of vertigo had struck him out of nowhere as the growl rang in his ears and standing perfectly still was the only thing he could do lest he go stumbling like a drunk.

Without any other evidence to support it, he just knew that the growl was coming from the thing he saw earlier, the thing that had killed Teshima-sensei and got this whole shitshow going.

That it was here in the school's main building… he'd feared the worst, but having it actually happen was something he hadn't been ready for.

"Takashi!"

Suddenly, hands clamped down on him and shook him and it took a colossal amount of effort to keep from swinging the bat in his hands now. Hisashi had given him a good shake to snap him out of his current state and he silently thanked the guy.

"You alright?"

"No… but I'll feel much fucking better when we're out of here," he replied in a firm tone. But it was just a front, for Hisashi and Rei and more importantly himself.

The sight of those smoke trails flashed across his mind and he wasn't so sure that heading into the city would be much safer than being here. But at least out there, there'd be more ways for them to maneuver past these things that surely had to be lying in wait in the city too. After all, why else would there be so many 911 calls going on?

In any case, he wasn't about to just up and quit here in school. He always thought school would be the death of him, but he had no desire for it to be made literal.

"Come on," he said as he suddenly brushed past Hisashi and Rei. "I can hear those things coming."

As if to prove his point, some moaning and inhuman cries started to reverberate from further down the hallway.

Hisashi and Rei followed immediately after him.

As he now led them once more towards the stairs he spoke of, he did his best to remain more in control now.

But that proved to be a hard thing to do when he could hear that monster from earlier seemingly follow them from the floor above, its heavy footsteps thudding in the same direction they ran in.

Thankfully, just several seconds later, the footsteps ceased and he breathed a sigh of relief.

About half a minute later, the stairway he spoke of came into view and he nearly laughed in joy, already picturing freedom.

Only for his daydream to be cruelly shattered when a handful of students and teachers came running from down the stairs, screaming at the top of their lungs while more of those things gave chase. More of those things came running from below too, converging at the spot he'd been leading Hisashi and Rei to.

And so he could only look on in despair as their route was blocked, a tidal wave from hell itself now coming their way.

With no other choice, he and his two friends could only turn around and flee in the exact opposite direction they'd been traveling in up until now.

And legion itself seemed to be hot on their tails.

With no other ways to escape anywhere in sight, it seemed like this was to be where he and Hisashi and Rei would die. It was with this much unwanted thought that he could perhaps be forgiven for screaming, especially since it seemed like the horde of fellow students and teachers and those things were catching up.

Hisashi screamed.

Rei screamed.

Then, as if by some divine or hellish intervention, the ceiling above them all broke apart and collapsed.

As Takashi found himself and everyone else in the hallway being crushed beneath the debris, all he could think of was why that monstrous roar sounded so great to him.

Then all he knew was darkness.

* * *

 **And that's that for now! So what do you think, guys? Interested?**

 **Heh, well not exactly the longest chapter I've ever done, but probably one of the longer FIRST chapters I've ever written, at least as far as I can recall. Could be wrong, though. In any case, think of this chapter as more of a prologue than an actual chapter, situation by the end of it notwithstanding.**

 **I'd initially planned to keep on writing, including the rest of the main characters from HOTD, but eventually decided against this in order to avoid simply throwing everyone in there all at once – have to space things out for the sake of the plot. I may not be intending to make this fic that long, relatively speaking, but that doesn't mean I'm going to rush things to do so.**

 **Now regarding what I intended to mention in the beginning AN, this fic won't really be a typical HOTD fic. That isn't to say there won't be zombies and action and horror and ecchi because I'll be doing my best to have all of that in this fic by the truckloads, particularly the horror if I'm able to do it right. So on that note, allow me to explain just a few things about this:**

 **Firstly, all the characters in this fic will, for the most part, be from HOTD. Very few OCs will be in it and when they do show up, you guys will know right off the bat.**

 **Secondly, this fic is inspired by elements found in another awesome/wacky horror manga called Mahou Shoujo of the End, also known as Magical Girl Apocalypse in the US and other countries. This isn't to say I will be copy/pasting things from it into the HOTD universe, rather that certain things from it have formed a basis of sorts for my own ideas that will be executed in this fic. The 'dog' creature briefly shown early on is but a small sample of what is to come. So if you think reading Mahou Shoujo of the End will somehow spoil this fic, not to worry – the plot is of my own creation as are the things I will be introducing later on, inspiration aside.**

 **Thirdly, the only thing from MSotE (Mahou Shoujo of the End), that'll be even remotely present in this fic for real are the zombies. Whereas the zombies in HOTD are pretty typical ones barring the tracking by hearing thing, the ones in the other manga are much different – they're too fast and strong from average people to outperform and extremely aggressive and actively search for people to kill. Plus, they aren't blind either and utter 'Magical' a lot. They also will simply kill people in whatever way is immediately available to them; biting isn't exactly a priority for them though their victims will become zombies too regardless of the method used to kill them.**

 **The ones in this fic will be a merger of the two – fast, strong and aggressive when hunting for victims, but are blind and will bite if possible. Outside of hunting and killing, however, they'll be somewhat quiet and docile until provoked.**

 **Whelp, that explains just about everything I think needs to be explained off the bat. Hope this'll be something that interests you guys because I've been wanting to do this fic for quite some time now and it's my hope that it'll be warmly received by the HOTD fandom even with the changes to canon that will be occurring shortly.**

 **Until next time, everyone! Take care!**

 **P.S. Recently got Dies Irae, an awesome visual novel that's like 50+ hours long. May or may not cause the next chapter to come out a little later than I usually plan. That said, strongly recommend the VN!**


	2. Chapter 2

And I'm back with the next chapter! Normally, I'd have been working on my novel, but seeing as I'd done plenty of that since the ending of my previous fic and the start of this one, I'd chosen to take something of a break from it. Said break was honestly needed since I now need to figure out if what I've written for the novel is good as is for now or if I should keep adding to it. As things currently stand for it, if I were to publish right now, it'd be part 1 of a two-parter and while that's hardly a bad thing, doing that would leave a bad taste in my mouth. So for now, just having this time to brainstorm what to do for my novel is a big help in its own way.

But that aside, not much else to say really, at least not about my writing. This second chapter will be pretty straightforward, much like the first one, just with a bit more of a focus on the others.

Heh, but that aside, saw Infinity War and by God, did I love it! The culmination of everything the MCU had been working towards ever since the very first Iron Man, with all the heroes involved and with an adversary that truly was more than a match for them. One of the few movies I'd eagerly watch again in theaters if I can!

Now then, onto the chapter!

Chapter 2

Saya Takagi was often considered one of the smartest students in the entire school, something that the girl herself would have no problem boasting of it prompted.

Said intelligence extended to more than just academics itself – it also manifested itself in a keen eye and great deduction capabilities as a result.

So while she may have been more than surprised when Takashi had strolled into the classroom so suddenly earlier and had been pretty angry when he'd just as suddenly grabbed Rei, she knew right away that there had to be a damn good reason for these actions. A slacker he may be in addition to other things, but Takashi wasn't one to do things like that without any real reason.

The way his facial muscles had been tightly clenched together, like he was just barely holding something back, had been more than enough for her to realize that whatever had gotten him so spooked had to be something substantial.

A damn good thing she'd then opted to listen to her own gut after he'd left along with Rei and Hisashi, because not long after she too had snuck out of class, the entire school had swiftly fallen apart and into chaos.

For people sporting wounds that clearly should be fatal had been shuffling about and at the sound of people making noise, had moved with terrifying speed to hunt them down and tear them apart. Saya should know, she saw some people die up close and it'd taken a lot from her to keep quiet.

This all had occurred in the span of roughly ten minutes.

And now here she was, slinking through the hallways as quickly, but more importantly, as quietly as she could manage.

However, much to her consternation, she wasn't alone and her guest wasn't exactly too keen on staying quiet.

"T-Takagi-san! Wait, please!" stuttered out her unwanted guest – Kohta Hirano. The resident geek of their class. People got along with him okay enough for him to avoid bullying, but he was hardly Mr. popular.

Why he'd opted to follow after her when she'd left, Saya had no idea but she was swiftly growing annoyed with him. Every sound he made wasn't helping with easing her own fraying nerves as the sounds of death and chaos echoed all across school grounds.

"Takagi-san! Seriously, just please slow down a bit! I-I'm having a bit of a hard time moving along!"

That's it. She's done here.

"Quiet!" she whispered harshly to him as they finally reached a stairway, one that lied near the middle of the school. It wouldn't take them to any nearby exit, but it'd take them down to the first floor as long as nothing comes at them.

As she turned to look at Kohta, she immediately saw the way his entire body shook, the way his face was sweating and how his own glasses seemed ready to fall right off his face.

His refusal to stay quiet aside, she could sympathize – she was having a hard time not shaking too, if the way her own knees buckled was anything to go by.

Still…

'E-Eh, but why?!" Kohta nearly yelled. He gestured all around with somewhat open arms. "I mean, there's basically zombies running around!'

"And they'll be running right at us if you don't shut up!" Saya had to make sure to keep as quiet as she could be while talking. "Haven't you noticed it by now?"

"N-Noticed what?"

"They don't see – they hunt by sound," she explained as if she were speaking to a child.

It'd been immediately obvious when the two of them had first left the classroom. Those things had looked rather docile as they shambled along even when the two of them had rushed right on by them a bit earlier. It hadn't been until some people started screaming that they got worked up into a massive frenzy. And she hadn't missed the milky white appearance of their eyes either, which only added to it.

"As long as we keep noise to a minimum, we'll be okay," she continued. "But we won't be okay at all if you keep talking loudly like that!"

Her words came out as a whisper once more, but a harsh one and Kohta flinched in response.

"O-Okay…" he muttered softly, looking properly chastised.

Saya huffed. At least the porker seemed willing to listen, if nothing else.

She started to head down the stairs – only for Kohta to speak up once more, albeit quietly. Nonetheless, he ended up asking a pretty stupid question in her opinion and it just made her stop in her tracks.

"While I know we need to get out of here, shouldn't we call the police first?" he asked nervously.

Never before had Saya wanted to palm her face so much.

"That won't do anything," she said in annoyance. "The police most likely already have their hands full… assuming they're still around."

That got Kohta all scared again. "What do you mean?!"

"Think, damn it. With all this chaos spreading across the entire campus, do you really think people outside the school wouldn't have noticed this by now? The very fact that police aren't here yet means that this likely isn't an isolated incident – it's likely occurring out in the city too."

What's more, not that she'll tell this guy just yet, there was plenty of noise pretty much echoing everywhere… and some of it wasn't coming from within any of the school buildings. Based on direction alone, she could tell that something was going down in the nearby areas outside the school. And given how sudden this entire situation had started off, she wasn't counting on a quarantine being successfully established.

This meant that the two of them along with any other survivors in the school were on their own.

Her delicate hands balled into fists at this thought as a new sense of horror began to dawn on her. She may be smart enough to think her way through things, but that didn't mean she was some master survivalist. She may be able to logically figure out what to do and what not to do, but that didn't suddenly make her into a capable stealth expert or weapons user or whatever.

With this in mind, perhaps Kohta persisting in following her had been a blessing in disguise. If nothing else, he could help out in some ways. Surely, the guy had to have some good points.

But first thing first.

"Come on," she started with a huff. "Let's get out of here first, then we need to figure out what to do next."

"O-Okay…" Kohta muttered. "Think we should get a weapon or something first, though?"

"Oh yeah, like what?" Saya said this, fully expecting a stupid answer.

Instead, Kohta smiled sheepishly and responded with another question. "Think we can make a stop at the tool room really quick?"

Saya was mystified but prepared to say no anyways.

Until something roared and what sounded like a collapse occurred somewhere nearby. Given how bone chilling and inhuman the roar had been and the sheer size of the collapse if the noise was anything to go by, Saya felt what little argument she had built up in herself fizzle out.

"…Fine," she said. "Better be worth it, geek."

Kohta could only shoot her a nervous yet determined smile.

She sure hoped she was making the right decision here.

After all, dying here in a school was, if nothing else, a pretty sad way to go out.

* * *

With the room currently barricaded, third year Saeko Busujima kept a steady hand on the wooden sword by her side.

Her years of training had left her capable of keeping up a calm and rational state of mind in a number of dire situations, but that didn't mean she was incapable of fear or even nervousness.

And she was more than certain that her father and kendo instructor had never pictured a veritable apocalypse as one of the dire situations she was supposed to be keeping a level head in.

Thankfully, none of those things outside seemed to be keen on busting their way in here and for that, the tall girl let out a sigh of pure relief, albeit quietly.

For reasons she didn't know, those things seemed to pay more attention to noise rather than rely on sight. Were they blind, perhaps? Or was it something else?

It didn't matter much, she supposed. As long as there was something about those things to exploit, she could live with the mysteries.

Still, to think _zombies_ would now walk – more like charge about – the earth. It was like something out of those cheesy movies some of her classmates like to watch.

She could think of the word 'zombies' without issue, for surely that was what those things had to be. They didn't react much to blows to their vitals, practically flew in with arms and teeth out, and the very few she'd been able to take down before running here had only gone down after delivering powerful strikes to the heads.

What's more… there was one other thing that told her these things were zombies without a shred of doubt.

And it was the reason why, even though she was calmer now than before, she still had a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face.

She wasn't alone in the room.

Looking through the medical cabinets nearby was the school's ditzy nurse, Shizuka Marikawa, her huge breasts smashing up against the wall as she continued to look for supplies.

"That's not it… ah, where did I put it…?"

Saeko wasn't sure if she should be amazed or worried at how airily the blond and busty woman sounded in this nightmarish situation. Still, if nothing else, being able to so quickly deduce what medicines and stuff might be needed and act on it was admirable.

But the nurse wasn't the one who worried her…

It was the other occupant in the room. A second-year student with glasses and dirty brown hair.

…He sported a large bite wound on his right elbow, most of it just outright missing. The nurse had tended to it the best she could a moment ago with bandages, but even then, blood seeped through and onto the student's lap as he lied on the floor against the wall.

He was going to die. Even with the first-aid he'd received, he was going to die.

Thing is, Saeko could say with certainty the student wouldn't be dead and still for too long.

Something that the teen himself seemed to realize with every passing second.

"Hey," he spoke to her. The tone of his voice made it clear he was struggling to not cry. It certainly grabbed the attention of the nurse, who even paused in what she was doing to turn and look at him. "We all know how this is going to end up, right?"

Saeko's grip on her wooden sword tightened. "Yes."

"Then if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not go out that way. I… I don't want to be one of those things." He started to lean forward a bit and lower his head. "This may be asking a lot of you, senpai, but… can you do just this one thing for me?"

"…Are you sure?" she asked of him.

"I'd rather die while I'm still me," he replied in a much stronger voice than she expected.

"…Very well." In the face of such a quiet yet steel-like determination, how could she possibly say no? "I… Obviously, I've never killed anyone before so… this may take a few swings."

"Heh, I'm not going anywhere else," retorted the student.

Smiling somberly at the teen's last show of wit, Saeko drew her sword and held it high for a brief second. Then she mumbled a quiet goodbye and swung.

A solid thirty seconds pass in complete silence. Saeko's hands shook slightly, partially from exertion – it'd taken a few swings to put the teen to rest permanently – but mainly from the fact that she had indeed just killed someone, even if he had literally asked for it.

Blood coated her wooden sword and spattered on her uniform as well. She averted her eyes from the sight the teen had become, her strike having left his head little more than a mess of bone, flesh and gore.

Slowly, she turned to see a horrified and solemn nurse staring at her. The sight had clearly disgusted the buxom blonde, but Saeko could see a hint of understanding in those eyes of hers. It seemed even the nurse knew beforehand that this had hardly been something treatable by medicine.

Wiping the weapon with a cloth that the nurse then provided her, Saeko looked to see if the noise had drawn any unwanted attention. Considering none of those things were shrieking at the top of their lungs and bashing the door down, she could assume they were still safe. But just how much longer will that remain the case for?

"We should try and escape," she commented.

"Eh? But how?" asked Shizuka.

"Do you have a car?" Saeko asked. She asked this rather hesitantly. Given how aggressive those things outside got with noise, a car would just be a massive beacon to them. But surely those things can't catch up with a car, yes?

"Y-Yeah, but will that really work?"

"If nothing else, it's better to die trying than die doing nothing at all," Saeko stated firmly.

"…I guess you have a point." Shizuka seemed resigned for a moment before then trying to psyche herself up. "O-Okay then! Let's try it!"

The blonde then started to take a few bold steps forward – only to then fall flat on her face.

Saeko felt her life flash before her eyes when this happened, certain the noisy fall would get those things' attention, but when seconds passed without anything happening, she let out a sigh of relief and swiftly helped Shizuka up.

"Those heels won't help you very much," she commented rather sardonically. She can't believe the nurse here had been running around until now with those heels. "Neither will your skirt, I'm afraid."

Without warning, she reached for said skirt's hem and tore it apart, exposing most of Shizuka's pantyhose-covered legs.

The buxom blonde looked ready to cry when this occurred. "T-This was my favorite brand…!"

"With all due respect, fashion will have to take a backseat for the time being; we need to move now and quickly," Saeko said.

"…Okay," muttered a comically sad Shizuka as she kicked off her heels.

Both of them then headed for the door at the same time, Saeko having to keep herself from being mashed against the doorframe by Shizuka's breasts when they opened it.

The coast appeared to be clear… for now. It sounded as if most of the slaughter was going on elsewhere within the school. But by now, most of Fujimi high's staff and student body were likely dead and now among those things' numbers. That meant they'd be looking for any survivors soon.

Saeko could only hope those things wouldn't backtrack here, assuming they had the intelligence for such a thing.

"Come," she said softly to Shizuka as she darted out first, acting as a vanguard.

Shizuka was surprisingly swift to bring up the rear, the nurse's expression one of absolute fear and uncertainty.

Saeko couldn't blame her one bit. The once lively and familiar halls of Fujimi high were now a scene straight out of hell.

And in order to reach the road to salvation, they'd have to traverse it.

At this thought, Saeko's heartrate began to gradually speed up.

She certainly hoped they weren't heading directly into their deaths here.

* * *

It was with a very light groan that Takashi began to wake up.

Disoriented, it took him a solid minute to come around fully and as he did so, he realized he'd been buried underneath quite a bit of rubble that had once been part of the ceiling.

Pain then struck him hard and fast as he now became fully aware of his predicament and he did his best to not hiss when it struck him. He started to wiggle around, trying to determine by sensation alone if any bones were broken and also to see if he could shift some of the rubble off him.

Much to his amazement and thanks, he didn't seem to have broken anything though he definitely now sported numerous bruises and bleeding cuts. Furthermore, some of the rubble fell right off him as he moved around a bit more and he started to get up.

Rei and Hisashi came to mind and he was just about to call their names – only to stop when he looked forward upon hearing a rumbling sound.

There, standing just inches away from him, was the thing that had started the school's hellish descent.

The 'dog.'

Only it sure as hell wasn't one.

So up close and personal now, Takashi could see how it really looked like.

Its overall body shape was similar to a dog, but much larger, more akin to a bear in size than anything else. It had no fur, exposing pitch black flesh that rippled with pure muscle with even the most microscopic of movements. Its paws were more along the lines of large, thick claws, easily slicing into the floor and latching onto it as if to root itself directly to the spot. A tail was just barely visible to Takashi's line of sight and it was shaped eerily like a snake, even sporting something similar to a mouth, fangs and all.

But it was the creature's 'head' that had his attention the most.

Because calling it a head would be extremely generous. It was instead a writhing and shifting mass of jagged teeth and from the center of this mass, an unnaturally long tongue spouted forth and whipped about in the air as if to taste it.

Takashi found himself unable to so much as breath. This thing was way too close for comfort and it was taking all his willpower to remain perfectly still. It didn't have any visible eyes, so he had to play it safe this way and hope for… hope for…

For what? The best? Just what the hell could even be defined as the best in this situation?

The thing's tongue then whipped forth to the ground with a speed and ferocity that made Takashi flinch and then it darted slowly towards him.

The tongue stilled for a second when it came across a small pool of blood, the result of possibly his injuries along with the others that had been crushed under all this rubble. It licked at it as if to test the taste before continuing its slow trail towards him.

The black-haired teen tensed as it then reached his face, the tongue twitching as it made contact with him before then rearing back. The mass of teeth shifted around at greater speeds now and the teen mentally began to say goodbye to his family and friends as the creature began to lean down towards him.

But then, what he could only describe as a miracle occurred.

Someone screamed from the next few hallways over. It seemed there were still survivors here and there in the school.

At the sound of the scream, the writhing mass of teeth twisted and formed apart to reveal a huge opening – Takashi refused to call what he was seeing a proper mouth – and a few more tongues shot out as the creature let loose a roar that seemed to represent hell itself.

By god, what a sound it was. Takashi's ears felt like they were about to burst. Thankfully the sound ended a few seconds later and the creature turned and ran towards the source of the screams with a speed that nothing of its size had any right to possess.

Takashi could only stare in absolute silence for a few seconds before moving, all but bursting out of the rubble with a renewed sense of energy from his close call just now.

"Rei? Hisashi?!" he called out as he quickly turned and started to shift through the rubble.

Some of the rubble, when cleared away, revealed the crushed and gory remains of his fellow students and some of the teachers, the ones that had been trying to run earlier prior to the ceiling collapse. Some of the other rubble, when cleared away, showed some of those things, characterized by their pale skins and milky eyes, equally dead for good.

Shivering at the sights he was bearing witness to, Takashi moved on – only for something to suddenly grab his foot. A moan filled his ears right after and he quickly turned to see that one of those things hadn't quite been dead after all.

He didn't recognize who this thing had once been, other than that it was a girl. Once upon a time, before today, she may have been a pretty one, but now with one arm completely gone after being smashed in addition to most of her teeth missing and her uniform torn to reveal her left breast had been torn away and with blood now slowly oozing out from the injury, she was as far away from pretty as one could ever be. The numerous bite marks all over along with the disgusting bruises showing from under her pale skin didn't help either.

The thing tried to pull herself out from under the rubble and somewhat succeeded – her top half nearly tore away from her trapped lower half as she moaned and tried to take a bite right out of Takashi's calf.

His reaction was immediate. With a piece of rubble just barely small enough for one hand to hold, he smashed it right against the top of the thing's head, scrapping away an entire portion of flesh and shattering the upperpart of its skull. But even then, it still tried to go for him, pain obviously not something it could feel anymore.

So Takashi swung again. And again. And then again for good measure.

The second swing had been enough to strike the brain, splattering it within the remains of the skull, but with the adrenaline in him, he hadn't noticed this, hence the additional two swings, which reduced the head to complete mulch, getting all over his shoes and pants cuffs. He then quickly tugged away from the thing's grip on him, which was still like a vice even after death. He ended up breaking its hand off and in a slight panic, he swung the piece of rubble on it to break the fingers enough to throw it off.

"Fucking hell…!" he muttered under his breath.

He prayed Rei and Hisashi didn't have any of those things trying to get them under the rubble.

Thankfully, it seemed his struggle just now had caused just enough noise to grab the attention of others beneath the rubble nearby. And when he went to clear it away, he saw exactly who he was looking for.

"You two…!" he said with equal parts shock and joy. He'd been extremely worried there for them. "Just how the hell did you two end up over here?"

"Could ask you the same thing, probably," grunted out a less than pleased Rei, followed by a dazed Hisashi.

Much like him, they sported numerous bruises and cuts now, but seemed okay for the most part…

But the way blood trailed down the side of Hisashi's face had Takashi worried. "Hey, you…?"

Hisashi waved him off. "I'm good, just still a little disoriented is all. Come on, we need to start moving again."

He and Rei then shared a look, united in their worry for Hisashi, but with those things and that creature still around, they didn't have the luxury of taking some time to sit down and fully check on one another.

Their weapons had been lost under the rubble save for Rei's makeshift spear, which she'd held onto with a vice grip. But it'd been crushed a bit, so it was smaller than before so it still wasn't much better off.

So with this in mind, they ran with renewed fear and purpose towards the stairs, seeing as no one and nothing else appeared to be coming their way.

As they did so, they got a brief chance to look beyond the school gates and see the chaos out in the surrounding area, smoke and fires clearly visible even from here. Screams of all kinds could be heard along with other sounds that didn't belong to humans at all.

It may have been a brief scene they were bearing witness to, but it showed the three of them that the entire city was going to complete shit.

"Just what is even going on?!" Rei nearly yelled as they ran down the stairs. "What's happening out in the city?!"

"Hell if I know, just keep moving!" Takashi shot back, getting kind of fed up with Rei's attitude. He understood her confusion and all, but now really wasn't a time for asking questions.

"Look!" Hisashi then said as he pointed towards the sky.

Takashi peered up just in time to see JSDF copters flying high in the sky and over the city. And they didn't seem to be slowing down or lowering their altitude in the slightest.

Something was up. The whole point of the JSDF is to help out in times of crisis like this. So why were they avoiding the city they're supposed to be helping?

Takashi's silently asked questions got answered just seconds later when beams of light shot forth from even further above, instantly obliterating the copters.

Then, from the sky above, a being outright levitated down, not unlike a god of sorts. Or maybe more like a mad god.

It was humanoid in shape, but utterly massive, massive enough for Takashi to make out some of its features even from here, features that induced a sense of déjà vu in him.

Its entire body seemed to be made of crimson red flames and its head lacked a visible mouth, thought it did have what appeared to be multiple eyes of pure darkness. Horns that wouldn't look out of place on a helmet jutted out the sides of the head and as the flame creature's head shifted about, the horns seemed to _cut the very sky itself_.

The air around it rumbled and burned as it seemed to find whatever it was looking for and it promptly began to unleash a small barrage of those beams before flying off just as suddenly as it had appeared.

"…I can't even…" Takashi muttered.

Seriously, just what the fuck was happening to the world here?! The only question he had that got answered was why those copters had been trying to pass up the city – they'd been trying to get away from that thing.

"Come on," Hisashi mumbled as he caught up with Takashi, who'd slowed when that thing had appeared. "We really need to get out of here now."

"Y-Yeah…" Takashi mumbled back.

They reached the bottom floor right after this exchange and the three of them entered the nearest room immediately thereafter. Not because they wanted to, however.

"Should've known there'd be some on this floor…" Takashi grunted out through gritted teeth.

This hallway was a straight shot to the front of the school, but sure enough more of those things, those zombies or whatever one wanted to call them, were crowding around the entrance/exit. Those things may not exactly see, but paranoia had taken hold of the three and forced them in here, if only to catch their breath.

And, of course, plan out their next move.

"What now?" Rei said rather harshly. "Your little plan so far is just getting us into more danger!"

Takashi's left eye twitched. He knew that him and Rei had been on rather icy terms since she was inexplicably held back, but her hostility towards him was really grinding his gears here. "If not for my little plan, you two would've still been sitting in class when this all happened! So don't talk shit, Rei!"

"Hey, hey…" Hisashi walked in between the two of them with hands up, trying to placate them. "Calm down, both of you. This really isn't the time to be falling apart here."

Rei grumbled and glared at Takashi. Takashi merely ignored the glare, however, and turned away, too fatigued to maintain his anger for long. His sleepless nights were catching up with him in the wake of this situation and it was taking a lot of effort to even keep going.

"Takashi, any idea on how to get outside? Or on how to get away from here?" Hisashi asked him in a neutral tone.

Takashi sighed. "I don't know…" he started. "I figured if we could just get outside, we could jack a car or something…"

"You can drive a car?" Rei asked quite skeptically.

Takashi grumbled, but said nothing at first. Rei's skepticism made sense since he didn't actually have a license or anything. "Whenever my parents and I went anywhere back in the day, I paid attention a lot to how my dad drove the car since I wanted to always want to drive one of my own back then… so I think I could manage if I could get behind the wheel."

Rei huffed, but Hisashi seemed to digest his words with a serious expression. Takashi watched him almost cautiously; it was slight, but Hisashi walked with a bit of a sway and none of them had bothered to stop the bleeding of their injuries just yet, though it wasn't as if they had any supplies with which to do so anyways.

"Hmm, yeah a car would be a good bet," Hisashi said seconds later. "Given how fast and aggressive these things are, trying to get away from them on foot isn't going to help us much."

"Hisashi, are you serious?" Rei looked amazed that her boyfriend was agreeing with him about the car thing.

"Well yeah. I mean, it's not like we have many options here…" Hisashi said a bit sheepishly. But then he looked serious again. "Only thing is, which car should we take? I mean, it's not like everyone is going to leave their keys in it. And I doubt we could hotwire a car in time to get away from those things."

"Err…" Takashi tried to think here. Hisashi brought up a good point. "Then I think we could try taking-."

"-T-try taking mine," interrupted a voice that belonged to none of them.

The three students all but jumped at the voice and immediately started to whirl around to see who it was.

Takashi inwardly swore at himself in the process. None of them had actually bothered checking if this room was even fully deserted or not – they'd simply assumed it was upon not seeing anyone initially and rushed right in, a rookie mistake.

"Who's there?!" he snarled out.

"O-Over here," spoke the voice, that of a woman, now that Takashi bothered to pay attention to it.

Grabbing a nearby chair as a weapon just in case, Takashi moved to a large cabinet by the wall. Gripping the handle to it tightly, he yanked it opened a split second later, ready to swing the chair as is necessary.

But it turned out it wasn't necessary. Instead, he lowered the chair upon seeing who it was, Rei and Hisashi calming down as well.

Nonetheless, they were rather surprised by who it was.

"H-Hello there," spoke one Kyoko Hayashi, teacher here at Fujimi high school as well as the advisor of the ping pong club. "Can you help me out of here?"

She, an adult woman with a full figure, had somehow managed to wedge herself into this cabinet, which hadn't quite been meant to be used as a hiding spot. Putting the chair down, Takashi moved forward and helped her out, nearly causing her to tumble onto him in the process.

"Sensei…?" Hisashi muttered behind him in surprise. "Are you alright?"

She seemed okay, but extremely disheveled, her clothes wrinkled, her usual jacket gone and her normally neatly combed hair into a ponytail now undone to let her brown hair down. Even her signature glasses had fallen partly off her face, cracked.

"I've seen better days. Much better days," she mumbled out, the normally stern teacher looking uncharacteristically meek and tired before their eyes.

"How'd you end up in there?" asked Rei.

"…Initially I'd planned to go outside with the other teachers to investigate whatever that… that thing was, but ended up staying behind," the teacher began. "I watched from the front gate as Teshima-sensei was killed… and how he got back up and started attacking the others…" She trailed off.

"…So then you panicked and tried to hide, right?" Takashi suggested, trying to fill in the gaps here.

Kyoko nodded solemnly. "My colleagues – no, whatever they'd become had made a rush for the front door when I screamed, so I ran here to hide. I'd been in there ever since." The teacher's expression suggested she was really beating herself up over this. "I shouldn't have done that. I should've tried to warn everyone, but instead I-I-!"

"H-Hey, calm down now," Takashi said, the teacher having been leaning against him when he'd helped her out of the cabinet. Her fingers dug tightly into his shirt and nearly into his flesh too, her nails rather long and sharp. "It's not like warning us would've helped out that much… those things are fucking ferocious when they catch onto something."

"He's right." To his surprise, Rei was backing him up here. "They shamble when not bothered but run fast and attack like rabid animals when provoked. You would have probably died before you could even warn anyone, sensei."

At that, the woman seemed to calm down ever so slightly, enough to let go of Takashi and mumble a quiet apology to him for clinging so tightly.

"Sensei, you were saying something earlier too, about your car?" Hisashi then said gently, getting back to their previous topic.

"…Yes. It's parked out to the side right there. I always carry my keys on me," she said, patting the chest pocket of her shirt. As she did so, she ended up making her left breast jiggle and despite himself, Takashi lightly blushed and glanced away. "So I can drive us out of here if we can get to it."

"That's great and all… but how to get to it?" asked a still unsure Rei. She motioned outside the room. "Those things are still out by the building entrance/exit and there's gonna be a whole lot more outside too, right?"

"T-That's true…" muttered Kyoko.

"Hey."

Takashi found himself saying this one word in a determined voice that he didn't know he was ever capable of. All he did know was that his fatigue was really starting to get to him here and his emotional nerves were feeling pretty frayed right now. He just really wanted to get out of here now and hearing them begin to speak of their odds was frustrating him more than it should.

"They look like they're blind, right?"

"Yeah," answered Hisashi. His eyes then lit up. "So then-!"

"Let's just make a distraction, plain and simple," Takashi said.

"A distraction? Like what exactly?" Rei asked with a mild huff.

Again, despite himself, Takashi found himself smiling a bit.

If all went well, they'd be able to practically waltz right out the school exit.

* * *

Kohta Hirano was a geek. This was something that was all but fact as far as the student body was concerned. Hell, even he thought this of himself as something perfectly acceptable.

But what many didn't realize was what kind of geek he was:

A gun geek.

After talking Saya into following him to a supply room, he was able to get some items and combine them together to form a nail gun. A shoddy one, but still usable.

It was something he'd swiftly put to good use, having gathered up as many nails and other similar sized things as he could in a small yet durable bag to carry around.

He first tested it out by firing from around a corner at one of those things – zombies, that had to be what they were – and watched in mild glee as his aim was on point, the large nail he fired piercing his target's head with enough force to seemingly kill it. It fell to the ground and the other ones that had been shambling nearby roared violently at the sudden noise and immediately beset themselves among the fallen body, unaware as to what they were doing.

Looks like his weapon didn't make enough noise to risk being attacked so long as he shot from a decent distance away, it would seem. This made him very happy and gave him one hell of a confidence boost.

"Alright, it worked!" he couldn't help but exclaim.

"Well, it won't work if you keep exclaiming like that!" harshly whispered Saya, crushing his spirit just as it began to soar within him.

"S-Sorry, Takagi-san…" he muttered out, feeling embarrassed.

"Whatever, porker. Just hurry it up!" she growled out as she quietly dashed past the pile of ravenous zombies, who were still distracted by their fallen brethren's body.

Gulping at Saya's bold move, Kohta followed but at a slower pace. His body frame wasn't exactly as slender as Saya's is, so he had to be extra careful to not bump against one of those zombies.

Doing this, he caught up with Saya and earnestly began their trek down to the first floor via a nearby stairway.

It was mercifully empty, but the two of them could hear some shambling down the stairs from further up, so they made sure to double time it down to the first floor.

Turning a corner, they saw a small crowd of zombies by the exit. Kohta considered firing at them, but Saya stopped him before he could even raise his weapon. "Don't, you idiot! Do what you did just a minute ago here and they'll just dogpile right in front of where we need to go!"

"R-Right, sorry." Man, having a gun – or rather, something akin to one – in his arms was kind of messing with him here, it'd seem. Having gone without indulging in his passions for a while has left him feeling a bit giddier than he normally is and just a little too eager to shoot a target. "So then, what to do?"

"Let me think for a sec-."

Saya didn't get a chance to finish her sentence when someone – that Takashi guy, Kohta recognized – appeared from around the corner by the zombie crowd and, without looking, threw a stapler at one of the ceiling lights.

Close to where the two of them were at.

The lights shattered and glass fell to the floor along with the stapler right before his and Saya's very eyes.

The zombies by doorway they had to get too roared in unison and quickly turned and ran towards the disturbance of the noise, their pale and torn apart bodies and their milky eyes filled with ravenous hunger and rage filling Kohta's eyes.

"Takashi, you idiot!" Saya outright yelled from beside him in a shrill voice, her normally haughty attitude completely forgotten in the face of the crowd approaching, along with her advice of staying quiet.

Kohta couldn't blame her; he felt like screaming too.

He could barely see past the incoming crowd, but Kohta was sure he saw Takashi and some others about to run out the exit, only for them all to stop and turn around in shock when Saya had yelled just now.

Kohta wasn't sure if any of them yelled anything back because he'd already started to fire.

With pinpoint accuracy, he shot down several of the zombies in the very front of the group right in their heads, causing them to simply drop like sacks of potatoes. This caused many of the zombies behind them to tumble right over and slam into the ground, but this barely even slowed them down, the zombies knowing no pain and so they simply crawled and started to get back up.

Kohta gulped at this scene and kind of froze up, his weapon out of 'ammo' and there's no way he'd have enough time to reload, especially since he could hear some more now rushing down the stairs they'd come from.

But then he felt a tug on his arm and he simply upped and followed. It was Saya and the girl had regained her wits, it seemed. She led them through the nearby staffroom, not even bothering to close the door behind them as they dashed through.

Seeing what she was up to here, Kohta started kicking at everything nearby as they ran, knocking down various chairs and desks to try to mildly inconvenience their undead pursuers, all of whom tried crowding into the room through the open door.

It hardly slowed them at all, but it did its job because when Saya opened the door on the other end of the room, it was to see the entire crowd by the exit had stupidly crowded themselves around the staffroom door they'd initially gone through.

This gave them a clear shot right to the exit, which was being held open by Takashi and that other guy from his class – Hisashi, if Kohta remembered right.

Just as they neared the door, Kohta saw both guys look to their right in surprise and Kohta followed their gaze. To his surprise, two women came barreling down the other hallway – the school nurse, Shizuka Marikawa and a tall girl that Kohta assumed to be a third year.

They too looked at them in surprise, but none of them had the time to ask any questions – the zombie horde was already starting to catch up.

"Come on, come on!" nearly shouted that Hisashi guy.

The two women, closer to the door, ran out first, followed by Saya and then Kohta himself bringing up the rear.

"Duck!" Takashi yelled at him and Kohta obliged, just in time to see Takashi chuck another stapler that he must have been holding onto at the zombie crowd, specifically the one that was the closest to them, clearly the fastest one.

The stapler must have been pretty heavy and thrown pretty hard because Kohta saw it slam against the side of the zombie's head hard enough to crack its skull and down the thing momentarily.

That was the last thing he saw before Saya and Takashi both tugged on him. "No slowing down, gun geek!" exclaimed Saya.

"R-Right!" he answered back, trying to pick up his own pace.

He managed to do so just enough to hear the two adults of their hastily formed group talk to one another. "Kyoko-chan! You're okay!" screamed the busty blond nurse.

"We won't be if we don't pick up the pace!" answered the other woman. "Quick, my car!"

"O-Okay!" replied the blond nurse. "Follow Kyoko-chan!" she yelled to all of them.

"Marikawa-san…" Kohta could just barely hear 'Kyoko-chan' mutter the nurse's name in exasperation even as they all ran across the front area of campus, passing by numerous scenes straight out of a horror novel, horrifically mangled zombies tearing apart captured students and staff with hands and teeth.

"Wait, but what about your car?" asked the third year.

"Don't worry, you'll see!" replied the nurse rather enigmatically.

A few moments later, they all certainly saw.

"W-Whoa!" exclaimed Takashi. "Sensei, you drive a car like that to school?!"

Kohta was feeling surprised too. After all, it's not every day one find outs a stern and proper teacher like Hayashi-sensei drives the car equivalent of a tank.

It was a massive Humvee pickup truck, black and silver in color with wheels and tires nearly twice as big as the ones found on smaller sports cars. The little steps on the sides and back of it would be definitely needed for anyone to get in it unless they were ridiculously tall.

The teacher in question sounded somewhat embarrassed when she replied to Takashi. "Really now, is it so wrong to like such things?"

"Hey, none of us are complaining, sensei!" spoke up that one girl, Rei, a smile of pure relief on her face.

"Enough gawking, get in!" Saya exclaimed.

The zombies they'd ran from within the school had followed them out without losing much of a step and the noise they were making was now causing other zombies to start joining the growing horde.

Hayashi-sensei was the first to reach the truck, keys already out and with the remote locking mechanism activated to unlock it. She scrambled into the driver's seat while Saya all but leapt into the passenger's seat.

This left the rest of them with having to leap into the back of the pickup truck, there not being enough time for any of them to squeeze their way into the two additional seats still within the truck.

"Start it up!" someone yelled, Kohta honestly didn't know who, simply too scared as the zombies were terrifyingly quick to catch up, their furious yells filling his ears now.

The humvee's engine sprang to life, generating a lot of noise in the process, but Kohta hardly found himself caring about the additional zombies it may attract, if only because Hayashi-sensei was quick to throw it into gear and back up.

"Hang out!" the woman in question cried out, audibly slamming on the gas pedal. The truck backed up quickly and slammed into the approaching zombie horde with a ridiculous amount of force. Kohta, having been of the unlucky few to be near the back of the truck, got an up-close look at how some of the zombies got ran right over, their bones breaking and already deteriorating flesh tearing on impact.

Then the truck turned with a loud squeal of the wheels and they now headed for the school gates.

However, now they had some unwanted hitchhikers.

"Some grabbed onto the truck!" yelled out an ever-paling Hisashi. Kohta thought the guy really was looking too good now. His head was still bleeding.

Sure enough, there were a few zombies that had managed to latch onto the very back of the truck and tried, thankfully futilely, to climb their way in.

"Knock 'em down!" Takashi, the fastest of those that got in the back and therefore the one closest to the front of the truck, all but crawled forward to the zombies. He grabbed something that had already been lying in the truck's back and flung it hard at one of the zombies.

It struck hard and with surprising accuracy, breaking the male zombie's nose, but it still stubbornly held on.

Takashi looked ready to strike again, but Rei got involved now. "Hold on!" Holding what looked like a broken mop handle, she stabbed it right into the zombie's right eye, surely striking the brain, for its grip slackened and fell off now.

And not a second too soon as Hayashi-sensei accelerated and the Humvee smashed through the semi-open school gates, nearly knocking them right off the hinges.

They were home free now. At least, in the sense they were no longer trapped within the school.

But that didn't mean anything…

…Since they still had one zombie or two hanging on.

"Knock them down, knock them down now!" They were having a bit more luck trying to crawl into the back with them.

But by now, Kohta had managed to finally reload his makeshift weapon. Before anyone else could do anything, he took aim and fired two nails into each of the zombies' head, shooting right through the very center of their heads. Blood and possibly brain matter briefly flew out the back of their skulls and their raging and roaring faces immediately slackened along with their grips and fell loose from the back of the truck.

"Nice!" Rei complimented him, making him blush. The others there in the back – Takashi, Hisashi, the third year, and the nurse – shot him equally grateful looks.

"All in a day's work," he mumbled out in embarrassment, trying not to scratch the back of his head.

After all, they still weren't quite home free just yet – with every side street and block they swiftly passed by, it was to the same sight of chaos and death. As Kohta was sure everyone here figured, the zombies hadn't exactly been a problem exclusive to their school.

"My god…" muttered the third-year student, her sharp features morphed into a greatly disturbed expression. Kohta couldn't blame her.

That was when it happened, a new and immediate threat.

A howl that defied human description filled their ears and indeed seemed to just reverberate across the entire area. It was enough to make them nearly freeze in place. Even Hayashi-sensei nearly lost control of the truck upon hearing it.

"Oh fuck _no…_ " mumbled Takashi, his features paling rapidly. "Sensei! Sensei, step on it! Step on it way more!"

None of them hardly got a chance to ask him if he knew what was about to happen….

For that was when they saw what had him so terrified.

* * *

Saeko honestly hadn't been expecting things to go this well, relatively speaking, regarding escaping from the school. Not only had she and the nurse made it out in one piece, but they'd even grouped up with several others that had made it out as well and were well on their way away from the hellish deathtrap Fujimi high had become.

But now… now, it seemed this was when things truly started to go wrong.

That howl just now had frozen her to the very core of her being, whatever warrior's spirit she possessed along with… other, darker desires… being thoroughly crushed by that monstrous howl. However, a second later, she ceased freezing and quickly tried to locate where the howl had originated from.

It hadn't taken her that long to do so, for she looked in the direction of the school just in time to see something leap right from the fourth floor of the main building.

"There!" she cried out, louder than she'd ever spoken before, having always been a more stoic type of girl.

Whatever that thing was, it was certainly massive and most definitely not human. Why, it could scarcely be called even an animal as it struck the road with enough force for the resulting shake to even somewhat affect Hayashi-sensei's driving, the truck skidding slightly to the side. Had the teacher not recovered so quickly, they'd smashed into a nearby corner store.

And yet, their near-crash didn't even hold their attention for a split second.

"W-What in the world is that?" Saeko found herself muttering as she got a better look now at what it was.

The thing was something akin to a dog in shape, but more along the lines of a bear in terms of size. No fur whatsoever. And that 'head' of its… god above, why so many teeth?! Where were the eyes or ears?!

But the part about this thing that rattled her above everything else, even its own nightmarish appearance?

It was chasing them.

 _And it was catching up._

"Kyoko-chan, floor it!" the nurse, Shizuka, plead. The poor nurse looked ready to wet herself.

"I'm trying, but it's not like the road is empty!" their driver squealed in reply. She must have seen the thing in the rearview mirror, judging by her frightened tone of voice.

Sure enough, the road started to get rather bumpy and it took only a quick glance to see that the truck was running right over a variety of things: bags and backpacks dropped in a hurry, phones as well, shoes and other miscellaneous things… and bodies, whatever remained of them anyways.

So, so many bodies…

The creature howled as it neared. It may not have eyes, but it could evidently hear and the roaring of the Humvee's engine and screeching tires were apparently enough to hold its attention more than any of the unfortunate people they were passing by in the process, being chased and slain by the zombies that were spread throughout the area.

It got especially close when Hayashi-sensei made a sudden turn, having to lose some speed lest she risk flipping the truck over. Saeko and Shizuka nearly went tumbling off the truck due to how close to the edge they both were.

The truck quickly began to pick up speed again, but not quite as fast as before as the road before them was slick with blood and spilled organs. It especially didn't help either that there were a lot more of those zombies rushing around on this street than the one they came from.

"Hold on, we're ploughing through!" screamed their driver.

Saeko held on tight as did the others, just as the truck slammed into the crowd that formed upon hearing them approach.

The sounds were really quite sickening as flesh and brittle bone attempted to beat back the metal of the truck… and naturally, the truck won, crushing a few underneath it while others got knocked to the side, limbs twisted and broken from the collision. Not that this stopped the zombies from pushing themselves up, yelling in ravenous fury as they gave chase alongside the creature.

But as fast and aggressive as they were, the zombies simply couldn't keep up with the truck when it was going this fast and fell behind in short order.

The creature, on the other hand…

"It's still on our tail!" the pale looking teen sitting across from Saeko exclaimed.

"I-I'll try shooting it!" proclaimed the weapon-wielding one, the one who'd shot those zombies earlier. Saeko watched him load more nails into his crafted gun and took aim.

Not even a few seconds after doing so, the glasses-wearing teen fired one nail after another rapidly, directly into the mass of writhing of teeth. The creature roared in response, the shots most assuredly connecting, but it was far from a cry of pain.

"I think you just pissed it off more…" muttered the black-haired teen, the one that had initially thrown something at the zombies.

"I think its skin is a little too tough," mumbled their shooter.

"Great, now what?!" screeched the girl, Rei Miyamoto, if Saeko recalled correctly. Rather odd that the girl was her age yet had ended up repeating a year. Especially since her grades had been pretty good from what she recalled. But she was allowing herself to get distracted her.

"We need to hurry up and lose it!" stated the pale one.

"A-Ah!" The nurse sounded shocked by something as she now looked to the pale teen. Specifically, to his head. "You're hurt really bad…"

The pale teen shook his head. "Don't worry about me now, just get us out of here! Hayashi-sensei! We need to shake this thing somehow!"

"I-I'll try!" the teacher retorted.

No sooner than the words left the woman's mouth, she made another turn, heading right before immediately making a quick left down a small street that the truck could barely squeeze onto. Then several meters later, there was another intersection and the teacher made another left.

But the creature simply roared as it kept at them, scarcely losing speed with each sharp turn it had to make to keep on them.

"So persistent…!"

"Hey, sensei!" the girl that was sitting next to their driver now spoke up. "I know this area! Head straight for the overpass the next four blocks over!"

"Okay!"

The truck's tires screeched once more as Hayashi-sensei adjusted her haphazard driving path to suit the girl's instructions. The whole time they swiftly traversed the city blocks, the things just kept on their tail, gaining an inch here and there as speed was lost and built back up with every 'bump' the truck came across.

But soon enough they reached where the girl said to head to and she quickly gave more instructions. "Head right and then make a sharp U-turn! Not now though! Just wait until you get closer!"

At that, a certain nervousness overcame them all.

Heading to the right would lead to an overpass that was currently being constructed. It wasn't even remotely complete; falling off that would lead to a solid fifteen-meter fall as this particular area was a bit more elevated than the rest of the surrounding ones.

If Hayashi-sensei wasn't quick enough, they'd all go tumbling to their deaths if they kept at this speed, assuming they didn't crash elsewhere along the way.

"…Okay!" Hayashi-sensei seemed to realize this yet answered in a resolute tone.

A moment later, the overpass came into view, all of them looking forward directly to it before shooting a glance back at the still chasing creature.

"Wait for it…. And… now!"

The pink-haired girl barked this order and the teacher responded with an outright masterful precision, leading the monster towards the overpass and then just as it looked like they were about to plunge right off it, the brakes were hit and the truck made what had to be the sharpest turn imaginable.

It practically spun in place on its axis just as the monster sensed the truck nearly stop in place. And it promptly lunged in response to what it thought would finally be its one and only blow…

…Only to pass them right up, missing the side of the truck by mere inches as it went sailing over the edge of the incomplete overpass and to the road below. It shrieked as it seemingly realized it'd been outwitted and howled on impact.

None of them dared to look over the edge, but its howls of rage were enough for them to know that it was still very much alive. And if the way the sound began to trail off was anything to go by, the creature was trying to find its way back up to them.

"Y-Y-You did it, sensei!"

"Awesome driving, Kyoko-chan!"

"Fucking finally!"

Some of them couldn't help but whoop and cheer at having that monstrosity off their tail for the time being.

However, they were hardly out of danger just yet. As long as they were still outside and expose like this, those undead would only follow the noise and give chase.

That said, Saeko allowed herself a smile, if only at the greatest of their dangers being out of their hair now.

However, it would seem their celebration was extremely short-lived, due to two particular individuals.

"Hisashi…?" murmured a quiet Rei. She looked to the pale teen in great worry.

…The teen in question wasn't looking too well.

"Hisashi!"

"…Rei…" mumbled out the teen. He blinked slowly. "Kinda starting… to feel… tired here…"

Just like that, they all knew what was going on.

"Kyoko-chan," said the nurse softly. "Is there anywhere we can go to hide for now? Anywhere at all?"

"I'll see what I can do," Hayashi-sensei said just as softly.

She shifted the truck into gear once more and drove slowly as to keep the noise down as much as possible…

And to also prevent any potential injuries Hisashi had to worsen even more…

Even if he was clearly dying already.

"Hisashi…" mumbled the other teen, the black-haired one. His expression had become quite fatigued now, as if it was more than just the state of his friend's health that was weighing on his mind.

Saeko couldn't help but hum quietly to herself and brushed aside some loose hair as the wind picked up, the young woman silently noting to herself quite solemnly that if nothing else, she's joined up with some rather unique individuals.

As they all drove off in search of somewhere to hide, if only temporarily, the wind picked up even more, carrying with it the screams of the dying and the roars of the dead from across the whole city.

* * *

 **Hope the ending there didn't come off as too cheesy. In immediate hindsight, I came to realize just how cheesy some lines were, even by the rather low standards of HOTD, heh heh.**

 **Humorously, whereas I had initially intended to make the first chapter longer before deciding otherwise, I'd initially wanted to make this chapter short before deciding to make it the length it is now. The reason I ultimately changed my mind for this chapter was because I realized ending it as soon as they got out of the school would've been rather unfair to you guys, hence the extra part with the monster giving chase.**

 **Also, as you can probably guess now, Hisashi won't be along for the group's journey quite soon. Much like in the canon events of HOTD, Hisashi was never really meant to survive past Fujimi high school's events. He merely lasted a bit longer here than in canon is all.**

 **I'm sure you can also guess Takashi and co. won't be the only survivors around, but you'll see as I go along with this story. You can also expect to see the 'dog' again in due time along with plenty more interesting creatures about. Just don't expect them all to be popping up that soon, it's not as if they're exclusively hanging around the same area, ha ha.**

 **At any rate, hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Until next time, everyone! Take care!**


	3. Chapter 3

Back again! Given the brief periods of time between uploads so far, there's really not much else for me to comment on regarding my life or anything, so this particular AN will be short.

Regarding the fic itself, obviously it won't be following canons events very much thanks to these monsters and Takashi's own mental state which differs substantially from canon. However, there will be some familiar faces bringing in their own conflicts as usual that may cause things to take a familiar turn here and there, but not by much. For the most part, this fic will be all original.

Just a heads up is all!

Now onto the chapter!

Chapter 3

The group had managed to avoid being mobbed as they all managed to make their way over to a large penthouse located somewhere between the shopping districts and the homes. However, thanks to the noise the truck naturally made no matter how slow it went as well as densely populated the area they were going to were, they had no choice but to ditch the truck a few blocks away from where they wanted to go.

During this drive, Takashi and the group that had hastily formed all did quiet self-introductions, if only to finally have names to put to faces and avoid cries of the usual 'hey you!' found in movies and stuff. It also gave the teen the time to explain in a low voice how things had played out from his perspective since it had seemed like he was just slightly more in the know about what was going on than anyone else.

Having all eyes on him had been kind of uncomfortable, but he'd managed it well enough, even if what he told them all was vague like he'd figured it would be. It's not as if he possessed the answers to their questions, which they accepted.

Following the abandonment of the truck, they all had to double-time it over to the penthouse, thankfully without much issue – it seemed that those zombies had already steamrolled their way through this area prior to showing up at the school and surrounding areas, so there was mercifully no more screaming going on, at least not nearby.

There were still plenty of zombies shambling around with their already decaying flesh and coagulating blood, but they were all spread out and the group remained just quiet enough to make their way to the penthouse without issue.

The only speedbump they had, figuratively speaking, was Hisashi. By now, the paling teen was too out of it to even walk, requiring Takashi to sling an arm over his shoulder and carry him that way. The nurse, who didn't mind simply being called by her first name with or without suffixes, also stuck close by to monitor Hisashi's condition every step of the way.

When they got into the penthouse, Takashi and the others couldn't help but be blown away by how large and classy the interior was. Judging by everything looking untouched, it seemed like there'd been no one to attract any zombies' attention.

"Holy hell… who owns this place?" Takashi muttered.

"I do," spoke a somewhat embarrassed Hayashi-sensei. "My family is well off, you see…"

"No kidding," mumbled a shocked Hirano.

"And yet you're a teacher. Rather admirable, considering the life you could've led otherwise," commented Saya as she walked in. She scratched ever so lightly near her eyes in annoyance. "Say, you have any spare glasses? My contacts are irritating me."

"Yes, I think I have a few. But the prescription…"

"I'll take what I get. Not like we have the comfort of time on our hands or anything," Saya replied.

"Hisashi?!" Rei then said as the teen in question slumped forward in Takashi's hold, drawing all eyes to her and the paling teen.

"Lay him down here," Shizuka told Takashi, pointing to the nearby couch, large enough to easily sit several people. "Kyoko-chan, do you happen to have any…?"

"I have a first-aid kit. Will it be enough?" Hayashi-sensei said softly.

Takashi didn't like the way Shizuka's expression tightened up. Nor how that seemed to be answer enough for the other adult there, who went to go fetch the kit.

Granted, he knew on the way here that Hisashi's chances were low… but to see it be confirmed silently like that constricted him.

"…We should bar the entrance," Takashi then found himself saying. "Just in case." Last thing any of them needed was a nearby zombie starting to bust down the door at the slightest chance, which would only summon more to help it out.

"I'll help," spoke the third year, Saeko Busujima.

He nodded to his senpai in thanks and the two of them quietly but quickly got some of the nearby furniture that was currently going unused to push in front of the door. They even got a nearby cabinet and cleared out anything in it that might fall and cause some noise before tilting it to serve as the final part of the quickly made barricade.

By the time they finished up, it was to see Hayashi-sensei had come back with the kit and Shizuka was already using it to treat Hisashi, who was borderline unconscious.

"How's he doing?" asked an ever-worrying Rei, who refused to leave the teen's side. From another couch nearby, Saya and Hirano sat, looking a bit uncomfortable as they could only watch.

Well, Hirano looked uncomfortable, his makeshift weapon being held tightly in his hands as if it were a crutch. Saya, on the other hand, seemed to be thinking hard about something.

Shizuka sighed sadly as she finished cleaning up the blood on Hisashi's head and expertly disinfected it and wrapped it up with bandages. "He's not doing well at all. All I did was just treat the external injury… but he has a serious concussion and all the blood he's lost up until now didn't help at all. Keeping him awake is going to be impossible, I'm afraid. Not to mention all the scrapes and bruises he sustained too. He even has a few fractures here and there…"

Takashi's hands balled into tight fists as he slowly approached. In the very back of his mind, he'd known something was wrong ever since he pulled Rei and Hisashi out from the rubble. Now here he was, watching his friend slowly drift away.

He swore under his breath, just low enough that only Busujima senpai, who was still near him, seemed to hear him if the way she tilted her head in his direction was anything to go by.

Hisashi probably should've just died back then, under all that rubble. At least, it would've been quick, if nothing else.

Takashi blinked. Once, then twice for good measure. He shook his lightly, confused and a little horrified.

Just where the hell had that thought come from?

Rei started to sniffle, a sound that snapped him out of his thoughts. The girl looked ready to cry her eyes. At such a sight, he could only avert his gaze. Seeing her like this hurt, especially since it'd been his dumb idea to go that route back at the school. Had he thought of something different to do, then maybe Hisashi…

No. No, he had to stop thinking like that right the fuck now. It's not as if he could've seen the future or something. These thoughts of his right now… yeah, it had to be because of how exhausted he was.

"Come here," Shizuka said gently to Rei. "If you were buried under all that rubble too, then you need a quick examination. Same thing goes for you too, Komuro-kun."

Takashi nodded almost microscopically. "Look at her first," he said, motioning to Rei who didn't seem to have heard the buxom nurse.

It took Hayashi-sensei stepping forward and coaxing the girl away from Hisashi to finally get her to move on her own. Even then, it seemed like the adrenaline Rei had been feeling finally started to wear off, cause the girl then tripped and fell face-first into the nurse's massive cleavage, which act as a cushion for her.

Rei could only mumble out a quick apology in embarrassment, but the nurse simply shrugged it off with a light and airy giggle before helping the girl up. The two of them then walked to a room down the hallway, presumably the bedroom to afford Rei some privacy, or so Takashi was assuming.

This left him and the rest behind to stand or sit around in a very tense and awkward silence.

"Umm…" Hirano began to speak up, the glasses-wearing teen looking extremely awkward and sheepish. "This might be wrong of me to ask now, but do you think I can have a snack to eat?"

"Ah, no it's fine," replied a tired but somewhat smiling Hayashi-sensei, seemingly bemused by the teen's question. "After how long today is turning out to be, I think we're all a little famished, right?"

As if pat of a comedy routine, someone's stomach gurgled with a surprising loudness. It came from Busujima senpai, who blushed and looked away a little. "…May I take you up on your offer, Hayashi-sensei?"

Saya looked ready to roll her eyes at all this, but then her own stomach rumbled too and she blushed as well, her face turning completely red. It looked like even the mere idea of her haughty image being shattered by anything was simply too embarrassing for her to even endure, if the way she suddenly sprang off the couch and start talking was anything to go by. "Right, well, how about a proper meal? Snacks aren't going to fill up anyone properly, after all!"

"Takagi-san… you can be surprisingly cute," mumbled an amused Hirano. But not quietly enough for Saya glared at him, causing him to shrink under her gaze.

Hayashi-sensei let out a quick laugh, some of the tension leaving her figure. "I'll whip us all up dinner then. Don't know how good you'll find it; I'm not really too good of a cook, you see." She then looked to Takashi. "What about you, Komuro-kun?"

Takashi blinked dully at being called out so suddenly and then shook his head. "I'm good. Think I'll just stay here and catch a couple of winks. That way… Hisashi here won't be alone."

She nodded in understanding and left for the kitchen, the others getting up to follow her to the large dining room that was near the kitchen as well. They all started to chat a little bit, Takashi just vaguely aware of what they were saying, Busujima senpai apparently offering to help with the cooking.

Instead, all he could do now was simply stare at Hisashi, still alive, but barely.

It felt kind of wrong for everyone to be doing one thing or another right now, but he couldn't really bring himself to blame them. Being around someone as they slowly lied there dying would've been uncomfortable for anyone. Not like there was anything that could be done anyways, no matter how infuriating the thought was.

Takashi walked around and plopped down on the couch directly across from Hisashi's nigh-unconscious form.

As he did this, Takashi could've sworn the pale teen tilted his head a bit to look at him, just barely skirting the line of consciousness. Hisashi seemed to smile almost sadly at him before turning his head back over, leaving Takashi to simply sit there with his thoughts.

Sighing, Takashi could only bring himself to stare a little longer at his friend before leaning back into the couch.

Then, with a sudden deal of reluctance, he closed his eyes to get some sleep.

…

…

…

 **AHJ!(#JFNFWFW)JNGJKSNEW()(! *#* &A)(UF(JIFKW)UOW)JVIOKMWKMKKSO)I( *?KOWJ*EW(HF(*EWHFUNKJO((* (*()&(O:Z**

Takashi awoke with a hell of a start, nearly leaping right off the couch. A cold sweat had enveloped him completely, his own clothes now feeling soaked through.

"What the hell…?!" he muttered.

Just what had that been? Out of nowhere some long stream of complete gibberish had filled his whole mind to the point of a headache now. In and of itself, hardly something that could induce a cold sweat…

But the feeling that had accompanied it… it felt so wrong to him. Foreign in a way that he couldn't put into words, not that he'd really want to.

"K-Komuro…?"

Flinching, Takashi blinked a few times as he tried to properly orient himself. In doing so, he realized that he wasn't alone with Hisashi anymore- just about everyone was here again, with Rei and the nurse pretty much surrounding Hisashi while everyone else was sort of spread throughout the room.

Hirano had been the one to call out to him so uncertainly. "You alright?"

"Just a bad dream is all," Takashi lied quickly.

He glanced from Hirano to the others, seeing the looks of confusion and concern in their faces as they all stared at him. It made him a little uncomfortable to be the center of attention. Had he screamed in his sleep or something?

Speaking of which…

He looked towards a clock mounted on the wall nearby and mumbled a couple of swears under his breath. Apparently, he'd been asleep for barely over two hours. He called bullshit on that; barely felt like a couple of minutes to him, seeing as he was still beyond tired.

But as much as he wanted to try taking a nap again, it seemed the others weren't about to let him. Or at least, it didn't seem like Saya was going to let him.

"You sure about that?" she asked as she folded her arms under her ample breasts. In doing so, Takashi just realized that the girls had managed to discard their school uniforms in favor of some clothes that Hayashi-sensei must have provided for them. "You may have been a quiet sleeper, but that expression of yours must have meant something more."

There she goes again, doing what she does best – prodding. Sometimes, he liked that about her. Other times, he didn't.

This was one of those latter times.

"It was a really bad dream," he said, trying not to sound too annoyed. Immediately thereafter, he tried to change the subject. "…How's Hisashi?"

Shizuka, still in the same clothes as before but with a pair of pants to replace her previously torn skirt, could only examine Hisashi with a less than happy expression. "He's just barely hanging on right now. I don't think… I don't think he'll survive the night. His wounds are simply too severe to fully treat without a hospital and medicine."

Because of how long it had taken them all to safely get here to Hayashi-sensei's penthouse and how much time has past since their arrival, it already was dusk. It'd soon be night in maybe another half hour at most.

Which meant that, at most, Hisashi had maybe a couple hours left.

Takashi's hands balled into fists once more while he saw Rei clutch Hisashi's hands with her own quite tightly. The mood of the others here were souring too at this news, his friend soon to become another victim to this waking nightmare that the world had seemingly become.

"…Hey…."

To the surprise of everyone, Hisashi woke up somehow at that exact moment.

"H-Hisashi!" Rei nearly yelled, her tone a mixture of joy and sadness. She all but hugged her boyfriend right then and there, but only barely. She didn't want to worsen his wounds even more despite his already dire situation.

Hisashi smiled and he squeezed Rei's hands with surprising strength, showing that he still was stubbornly clinging to life.

But then his smile vanished almost as quickly as it came and he slowly forced himself to sit up, ignoring Shizuka's startled cry and subsequent pleas for him to lay back down.

He gazed at them all before speaking again. "This is pretty sudden… but I have a request, everyone."

Before any of them could fully register what he was suddenly saying, Hisashi continued and spoke his request.

And Takashi felt his blood run cold at what it was.

* * *

A solid thirty minutes have gone by since stating his request. And as Hisashi had expected, everyone had been more than a little horrified by his request:

"Kill me."

Yes, that had been his request, which everyone had argued against most vehemently, Rei especially.

All except for one – Takashi. The black-haired boy had been the only one to remain silent the whole time and had simply stared at him instead, his expression unchanging…

At least until Hisashi had then dropped a bombshell on them all.

He'd neglected to mention it until this point, having simply been more focused on getting his friends out of the school and to somewhere safe, but now he'd had no choice but to come clean to them.

Back at the school, when the ceiling had collapsed on him and Rei and Takashi, it'd done more than just hurt him bad; it'd also crushed to death, or at the very least, heavily wounded the students and staff that had been running behind them.

Along with those zombies that had been giving chase at the time.

Blood from both those killed along with that of the zombies had mixed together beneath the rubble and flowed through any opening and crevice available until it had reached him, who'd been the one closest to the crowd.

He knew for a fact that some of that blood had mingled with his own and had entered some of the wounds he'd gotten in his legs. Literally, he could _feel_ it coursing through his veins now.

Of course, blood didn't quite work that way, but with the appearance of fucking zombies in the world now along with that creature that had chased them, things that he'd once taken for granted as common sense and logic had been brutally beaten and thrown out the figurative window.

It was slow, but he could feel himself changing. Changing into one of _them_. Even if he could receive proper medical attention, it wouldn't do much good for what was now in him – it'd only be prolonging the inevitable.

Really, the only reason no one had noticed until now is because he was still wearing his school uniform, completely black in color and therefore hid the dark and dried blood very well. Plus, the nurse probably had mistaken the blood around his legs as his own from the bleeding bruises and cuts down there.

At this announcement of his, their arguments had been silenced… and he saw a certain look in Takashi's eyes that indicated his friend agreed, albeit reluctantly, with what had to be done now.

Which is why Takashi was now carrying him up the stairs of the building to the roof.

It was a quiet trek up, with only their footsteps being the main source of noise, thankfully nowhere near loud enough to draw unwanted attention.

It was only the two of them, Hisashi much preferring his death to not have a large audience. He'd already said goodbye to them and had given Rei one final and firm hug – he hadn't wanted to kiss her in case any blood in his mouth somehow passed to her.

That all said…

"Takashi," he began as they finally reached the roof. "Sorry to have to make you do this, man."

"…It's fine," his friend responded in a clipped tone. He was clearly lying. "It's what you want, after all."

"Heh, well, only because I'd rather not become a danger to you guys. Even if I do survive the wounds I already had, I'd only be a liability anyways. After all, you can't stay in that penthouse forever – you'd run out of food eventually, plus…"

Their families. Surely, all of them wanted to find out how their families were doing in this nightmarish catastrophe. With all the phonelines busy or dead, calling them up wasn't exactly an option, meaning they'd have to actually travel home to check on them, assuming they were there at all.

Takashi looked at him and understood this, grimacing in response. "I know, man, I know."

It was night now. The screaming that had been ringing out from all across the city had stopped. Whether that was because everyone was now dead or if any survivors had learned to stay quiet and hide, Hisashi didn't know. He sure as hell hoped it was the latter.

Limping on his own after Takashi let go of him, Hisashi walked close to the nearest ledge until he was about ten feet away. Takashi slowly followed after him, carrying Busujima senpai's wooden sword with him, the third year having lent it to him for this moment. Of the whole group back in the penthouse, her arguments against this had been perhaps the most mild, likely because she knew it was needed.

From what little she'd spoken of what had occurred for her at the school along with the nurse, she'd had to put someone down too. So she understood why he wanted this.

The 'plan' for this was really simple. Takashi will kill him with the sword up here, where the loud wind would keep the noise from attracting any unwanted attention from the zombies below and then afterwards, Takashi would dump his body right over the ledge, as far as he can. That way, even in death, Hisashi would be able to somewhat help the group out by luring any zombies away from the building.

Sitting down now, Hisashi looked up at Takashi. "Well then… ready when you are," he tried to say in a chipper voice, but only ended up sounding tired.

Takashi's grip on the wooden sword tightened as he readied himself. "I'll just ask for the sake of asking. You sure about this? I mean, what if you're wrong about being infected?"

"Trust me, I can feel the change occurring, Takashi. I'm infected and I don't want myself to be a threat to you guys. I don't want to be one of those things at all. I want to die as myself."

"Die as yourself…" Takashi muttered. He seemed to almost be tasting the words somehow.

The teen then sighed heavily, closing his eyes in the process. When he opened them again, Takashi's eyes looked more tired than they were before and that was saying something. "Alright then."

He raised the sword high above his head, clearly wanting to try and do this in one strike if possible.

Hisashi smiled in quiet gratitude before lowering his head, exposing the back of it for Takashi to hit. "Thanks, Takashi," he said simply. "…Keep on eye on Rei for me, please."

It was one final request of his. Rather selfish considering what he was already asking his friend to do here, but one he couldn't help but ask anyways.

And sure enough, Takashi didn't disappoint. He may be a slacker and his relationship with Rei may not exactly be stellar anymore, but the teen replied not even a second later.

"I will," he said in a firm voice.

Hisashi's smile grew lightly in response to that, just as Takashi swung.

All went dark a split second later.

Hisashi was no more.

* * *

Rei Miyamoto paced furiously throughout the entire penthouse, her expression so troubled and upset that no one else there dared to call out to her or stand in her way.

She couldn't believe, simply refused to believe it. That Hisashi, her own boyfriend, would request to be killed. Even in light of what he told them all, she still couldn't accept it.

Come on, surely there had to be a cure or something if that was the case, right? Right?! Or maybe he wouldn't have turned at all…!

"Damn it! Damn it!" she whispered fiercely under her breath, tears at the corner of her eyes yet refusing to fall.

Yet to think that everyone had ultimately agreed to it too. They gave up on him!

To say she was angry at them all was probably an understatement. But she was angrier at one person in particular:

Takashi.

She'll admit they weren't exactly on good terms anymore, but even then she'd thought maybe they'd still see eye to eye on some things. She'd been expecting him to back her up on getting Hisashi to not go through with this. But instead, he'd been in agreement with the others completely! Not only that, but Hisashi had requested him to be the one to kill him!

Back and forth, she paced at a harsh walking speed, her leg muscles screaming at her to pause for a minute yet she refused. She'll stop when _both_ of the boys she knew came back.

There was a quiet knock at the door, yet because of how silent and tense everyone remained, it was as if a bomb went off in a sense.

The third year, Busujima, along with Kohta got up and swiftly cleared out the barricade in order to expose the door and promptly unlocked it.

…Only Takashi walked in, wooden sword in hand with blood on it.

Rei's heart all but stopped outright at the scene before her features then contorted into fury.

Takashi had gone through with it, after all. He'd killed Hisashi.

Emotion clouding out the small logical part of her mind, Rei all but stomped forth as the boy entered and the door was locked and barricaded behind him.

She didn't care about being quiet anymore – she was going yell at him, scream and let out all the anger and hurt she had inside right now.

But just as she was about to do so, Takashi, having been looking down this whole time, finally looked up. The look in his eyes made Rei paused mid-step; they just looked so haunted, so tired and just done with everything. There were a number of other emotions there too, but she couldn't even begin to figure out what those emotions were exactly.

Takashi walked forward, looking at her for a moment in such a way that she unconsciously backed off and let him head for the couch.

He slumped onto it like a puppet being cut loose of its strings. And in doing so, everyone there started to congregate around him.

"Thanks for lending me this, senpai," he muttered as he lightly tossed the wooden sword back to Busujima, who caught it easily and nodded solemnly. Takashi then leaned forward, elbows on his knees and ran his hands through his hair roughly.

"…So what now?" Saya asked. Rei could tell the girl wanted to ask how it went up there on the roof, but clearly held back in favor of Takashi's current state.

In response, Takashi looked up at her, mild confusion on his face for a split second before the expression from before returned. He then sighed.

"I don't know about you guys," he began. "But I think in light of all this, we should try checking up on our families."

Check on their families… how could such a thought have not occurred to Rei until now. Her dad was an inspector for the police. Did that mean he'd gone out into the field when all this chaos broke out? Did that mean he may be dead… or even worse, one of those things now? What about her mom?

Suddenly, Rei's shitty mood worsened as thoughts of her family finally filled her mind and she had to look to the side to keep from crying in front of everyone here.

"Not to mention," Hayashi-sensei started gently. "Look for more supplies too. I may have a quite a bit here and you all are more than welcome to it, but…"

She didn't have to say anymore.

It'd only be a matter of time before the food here and other supplies start to run out, especially since there were seven people here in a place meant for one person, even if said place was large.

With the state the entire city was in though, would they even be able to navigate from here to their homes and to any other places worth looking into?

Rei shivered at the thought. The school had been terrifying enough to get out of and that thing chasing them on the streets earlier had been even more mind-scarring. To now have to traverse across an entire city filled with those zombies and creatures? Sounded like one massive deathtrap now.

"E-Eh…" the nurse started to speak up, smiling awkwardly. "How about we worry about all that tomorrow? It may not really be that late, but I'm sure we're all really tired now, right? We should just try to freshen up and get some sleep."

"Hmph, finally," spoke Saya in that all too familiar haughty tone of hers, though it was clearly just a front now to deal with today.

"Y-Yeah, sounds good," spoke Kohta.

"Agreed," said Busujima softly.

"I'll see if I have any sleeping bags or something… and start the bath too," Hayahshi-sensei chipped in, trying to give them all a reassuring smile. "I think we all need to destress somehow, otherwise going anywhere tomorrow may be a bit much."

They all agreed in one form or another. Hayashi-sensei then led the girls to the bath, massive enough in size to easily fit them all if they didn't mind being a little close to one another. As it got started up, Kohta went with the teacher to find some extra sleeping bags to use.

But while most of the others were already heading into the bathroom to strip down and get in, Rei remained behind, staring rather than glaring at the one other person that didn't move.

"Takashi…" she began, only to stop. She had no idea what to say or do anymore. Yell at him? Console him? Both of these options were merely thoughts meant to try and simplify the way she was feeling right now, if only to give a quick outlet to some of her feelings, but she couldn't act on it at all.

After all, she was hurting too from Hisashi's loss. The others were too, even if they hid it much better. Not to mention that, to be blunt, the loss of Hisashi wasn't quite as painful to them as it is to her and Takashi. After all, they were the only two that truly had a connection with him.

She stood there for a few minutes, fidgeting the whole time as opposed to Takashi, who was practically a statue.

Eventually, she turned to leave and head for the bath.

But just as she started to head down the hallway…

"I'm sorry, Rei," called out Takashi. "…I made it quick, at least."

Rei paused at the words, her expression contorting. Before she said or did something she may regret, she ultimately walked off.

Leaving Takashi all to his lonesome again.

* * *

Roughly an hour or two goes by without issue. The girls all took a bath first, the warm water clearly causing them to loosen up enough to talk and even relax.

Perhaps relax a bit too much, for Kohta had heard them apparently size up each other's breasts and whatnot, particularly Shizuka's massive J cups.

Oh, how the sounds had nearly driven the gun geek up the wall. It sure helped him loosen up a bit, even before the bath had been free for him and Komuro to use.

But after they'd all freshened up and changed into new clothes – well, the girls did. He and Komuro couldn't since Hayashi-sensei had no guy clothes here – the tension had returned just a bit.

Not for the girls, who'd already turned in for the night in the other rooms here, but simply for himself, seeing as he was sleeping out in the living room alongside Komuro.

Speaking of which…

"You sure you're okay there?" Kohta asked.

There hadn't been that many sleeping bags and the boys had given up what few there were to the girls, meaning the couches were the only options for them.

Except only one couch was free since the other still had some now dried blood on it from Hisashi's wounds earlier, which seemed like a pretty ill omen to Kohta.

He'd worried about how they'd go about this since the floor, while smooth, wasn't exactly all that fun to lie on. But to his surprise…

"Yeah, I'm cool with it. Take the couch, Hirano," said Komuro as he sat in a chair nearby, looking out the massive glass wall. It had large drapes that could be pulled closed as to block out any would-be peepers, but Komuro had yet to close them.

The boy was still clearly affected by what happened earlier, though he was doing better now, sounding much calmer about it, or at the very least simply was too tired to care anymore for today.

"O-Okay," muttered Kohta as he then took off his glasses and school jacket, revealing his white shirt which had a gun logo on it. He got onto the couch and lied on it. "You want a pillow or something at least?"

Komuro, having gone without his own school jacket to reveal the plain dark red shirt he wore underneath it, merely shook his head. "I'll be fine. Can sleep just about anywhere without a problem."

Kohta could only give a quiet reply in direct response to that before getting as comfortable as he could on the couch and closed his eyes.

Of course, exhausted or not, he didn't fall asleep right away and instead took this time to think back on the events of today.

Zombies, unearthly creatures, the death of a fellow classmate just when things had started to calm down… it was like something out a movie or a manga, only nowhere near as exciting. Today had been harrowing and chaotic and it really made Kohta try to figure out what their chances of survival were now.

Were there other survivors out there? If they came across any, would they be friendly? Or would they try fighting them over resources and other things?

What about the zombies themselves? And those creatures? Were they aliens? The result of some government experiment gone wrong?

Kohta's still overactive mind was just brimming with hypotheses now, though he wasn't exactly eager to try proving any of them.

Surviving. First and foremost, they had to worry about that. Then, if or when this all ends, they could worry about how this all started.

Who knows? Maybe this event may go down in history as something truly remarkable in the end, a paradigm shift of a massive scale.

But that all said, Kohta couldn't help but keep coming back to one particular thought as he finally drifted off to sleep-.

Why did it feel like Komuro was a little too calm now?

* * *

It was close to midnight and everyone was in a deep sleep now, the events of earlier today having left them all that tired.

All except for Takashi. As exhausted as he felt, both physically and psychologically, he simply couldn't bring himself to sleep.

Not for a lack of trying, though. About an hour after the others had fallen asleep, he'd tried closing his eyes to rest, only for something similar to earlier to occur again, strange gibberish having filled his mind to a bursting point, forcing him awake not even ten minutes afterwards.

He's been awake since then and had taken to simply sitting in the same chair for a while before finally getting antsy and stood up.

Takashi had closed the drapes a lot, but not completely, leaving just enough room for him to pretty much fit in between them and look out the glass wall to the city streets below.

Amazingly, he found himself already feeling at peace with Hisashi's death, something that he in his current state of extreme self-awareness found kind of odd.

He knew, just somehow knew, that it wasn't because of a 'couldn't be helped' feeling or anything like that. He simply didn't feel as affected anymore for some reason. A part of him wanted to say it was the exhaustion getting to him even more now, but he knew that was a lie a too.

"Just how much did killing you really bother me?" he whispered to himself.

Maybe he was already cracking under the pressure of this veritable apocalypse. Considering just how quick everything had gone to hell and with those zombies still shambling around on the streets below, it wouldn't be a surprise if maybe his current mental state was simply breaking down for the trauma.

…Yeah, right. That was an odd sort of wishful thinking.

His own circumstances aside, Takashi knew he wasn't quite at his breaking point.

Not yet, that is.

Staring out at the streets for a while, watching as some of the zombies walked into walls and abandoned cars and even into each other, he had to shake his head. Those things looked so vicious and terrifying up close, especially when they were chasing someone. But seeing them as they are now, without any targets around, they looked almost comical.

This did little to change the image he already had of them in his head, though. Blind they may be, they were still obviously dangerous. They'd make roaming around tomorrow hard, that was for sure.

And on that note…

"Family, huh?"

Looking for their families… with things the way they are, such a goal was an obvious one to have. It was a goal he'd help the others here achieve if needed… but as for himself? His family… did he really want to check on them?

His dad cared for him, that much he was sure of, but the man still was sort of distant from him, making small talk here and there and just ribbing him enough to keep him in line.

But his mom though… he couldn't recall a single time in his life where she hadn't looked at him harshly in some way or another, as if his very existence disturbed her in some way.

He'd be extremely hard-pressed to say that he hated his parents – he didn't – but he would be equally hard-pressed to say he was worried enough about them to seek them out right away.

Surviving. Right now, that was all that mattered to him in his fatigued state.

Get his shit together, help the others here with whatever they think had to get done, especially Rei, get a handle on supplies and management… then and only then will he be able to go looking for his family.

In all honesty though, he was sure they were alright. He didn't really have anything to base this feeling on, but he just knew that they could take care of themselves well enough, even in a crisis as fucked up as this one.

Stepping back from the glass wall, Takashi prepared to close the drapes all the way – and paused.

Could've sworn he just saw a glint of something there, on the tall building facing this one. It was enough to make him eye the rooftop of the building warily for a moment, but when nothing else appeared, he reluctantly closed the drapes and silently plopped back into the nearby chair.

Must've simply been a trick of the eye or maybe his mind.

He _was_ tired, after all.

* * *

A strangled and hideous cry echoed quietly across the rooftop as the entity this sound originated from swiftly ran down the other side of the building.

It landed by a small group of zombies and with no small amount of noise either. And yet these walking corpses, with their bloodied and decaying flesh drooping off their very bones, didn't react to it at all.

Mindless they may be, even these zombies instinctively realized this creature wasn't human and far more dangerous.

Said creature's entire body was made up entirely of black fog that was just barely able to mold itself into a shape similar to that of a large and muscled human, hence its weight. Yet it also had some wicker man-like features to it, its 'head' more along the lines of a wooden jackal mask, horns jutting out from the sides while parts of its shoulders and back were malformed.

It was formed from night itself, which is to say, formed from darkness. As such, it couldn't exist during the day at all.

It also couldn't enter any closed dwellings occupied by people, but that didn't mean it couldn't watch from afar like it had been doing just now.

And while it may not be able to enter any homes that people are in right now, including these… apartments, it believed the word was, it could still prey on anyone still out in the streets or in otherwise openly accessible places.

Already, it has hunted and feasted on several dozen people and the night was still young. Plenty more to be slain and devoured by it remained.

However, something about this particular bunch it had been observing intrigued it a bit. Their despair and fear was similar in quality to that of others it's already claimed, but they possessed a different 'flavor' nonetheless.

No doubt this group would make a move during the coming day… and it would do its best to catch up with them during the following night. And the night after that, if need be.

And once it figures out whether this 'flavor' is worth it or not, it shall make its next move in full.

But until then… its hunger still beckons.

With nary a sound now, the creature ran off, in search of more food.

By the time morning came about, the remaining population of this city fell considerably by its own hands.

* * *

 **And done!**

 **Whelp, honestly not much else I can say about this fic in general nor is there anything in particular that I feel needs to be discussed about this chapter.**

 **All I can say is that I hope you guys enjoyed it.**

 **And on another note, the next chapter may take just a bit longer than usual to post – I'll be going back to working on my novel now. Nothing too serious about it though, merely some revision/editing that I've been putting off. Once that gets taken care of, I'll begin on the next chapter for this.**

 **So until then, take care guys! See you then!**


	4. Chapter 4

And I'm back guys! And does it feel good to be back!

Been a very hectic week or two for me. My minor issues with editing my current novel aside, there was some personal scares in my life along with car troubles too that have now been fully taken care of. Hopefully, that'll be the last of it for me.

On another note, my first novel, which had been available only on Amazon Kindle up until now, has been published on a plethora of other online platforms too, such as Barnes and Noble and Apple and more. There's a universal link for my novel available that I will try to post on my profile page for this site soon enough. If you're interested, please give it a look!

On a second (third?) note, the current novel I'm working on has been properly divided up into two 'books' so far, though I've yet to publish them. Will probably do so within a few weeks after I develop a cover for both, though it still might take a bit of time to do so since there's naturally plenty of other things in my life that need to get done – nothing serious, just other stuff in general.

Well then, not much else to say at this point really. So, let's get onto the chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4

Boobs.

Massive, soft and oh so comfortable boobs.

This is the sight Saeko woke up to in the early morning, her head all but smushed in between Shizuka's aforementioned breasts, experiencing their softness and elasticity firsthand as she tried to gently wriggle herself free.

Surprisingly, she felt rather hesitant to do so – she may not swing that way, but even she couldn't help but admire the sensation her head was experiencing right now, a sensation that she was certain all the guys and more than a few dozen girls back at her school would've gleefully sold their souls to feel for themselves.

Alas, she couldn't really breathe. Death by snu-snu as she's heard some people call it wasn't a way she'd desire to leave this world.

That said, breaking free of Shizuka's hold proved surprisingly tough. The woman, naked as the day she was born for some reason, had a surprisingly strong hold on her and the more she tried to wriggle out, the tighter Shizuka's grip got.

Her breath quickened a bit as she exerted more effort to break free, doing her best to ignore how said breaths seemed to tickle Shizuka's chest and cause the woman to moan ever so lightly in her sleep. She also tried to be mindful of Shizuka's hardening and sensitive nipples as she squeezed her head free.

…Saeko also tried not to stare at the nurse's lovingly pink areole too but found this to be also surprisingly hard to do, ultimately looking away with a blush upon her cheeks.

Wiping off the drool that she'd let out during her sleep – gods above, how she hated that she drooled whilst asleep, so unladylike – she surveyed the room and its occupants.

She along with the other girls had taken up residence here in Hayashi-sensei's bedroom, all five of them having plenty of room to stretch their legs out.

Hayashi-sensei and Takagi-san had taken the bed while Miyamoto was sleeping in a very comfortable looking sleeping bag, the only one that Hayashi-sensei had.

As for herself, she'd deemed it fine to sleep on the floor with just a blanket and pillow.

How then did Shizuka end up smothering her? The nurse had initially been sleeping alongside Hayashi-sensei and Takagi-san in the bed, said bed having been big enough for the three. Saeko supposed the nurse must be something of a sleepwalker and had ended up falling beside her during the night as a result.

But she was letting herself get distracted by this.

It was the start of a new day in this new world, a world where zombies and creatures of the unknown now roamed about. Given how chaotic things had been yesterday with no aid from officials in sight, Saeko was more than certain now that whatever exactly was going on in this city was going on elsewhere too, though whether 'elsewhere' also included countries besides Japan, she knew not.

Not that it really mattered much – the chaos here was more than enough to deal with as it is.

In any case, it wouldn't do to already start this day in a dour mood. That'd only lead to an overall unhelpful mindset and she's learned long ago when she first took up the way of the sword that the mind was the greatest enemy anyone can face.

Negative thoughts, no matter how minor, can be all that it takes to dull one's actions and reactions. With how fast and vicious those zombies are as well as those creatures, that'd only lead to an extremely swift death if their attention was ever drawn.

Well, that aside…

"Hungry…" she mumbled softly, feeling her toned stomach rumbling a bit. Given how tiring the previous day had been, it would seem that the dinner last night simply hadn't been enough after all.

Right then, might as well go and prepare breakfast, for herself and the others. Then after they eat, they'll hopefully be able to come up with a proper plan of action to take.

Quietly exiting the bedroom, Saeko headed for the kitchen area.

Naturally, this required her to pass through the living room area, where the two boys of their group were resting.

But much to her surprise, this statement was only partially right.

"Ah, Komuro-kun," she said quietly. "Already up?"

Seated in a chair close to the glass wall, drapes closed over it, was Takashi Komuro, the one who'd been requested by the now deceased Hisashi Sugou to put him to rest.

Komuro-kun, as she'd noted, was very much awake.

But just because he was awake already didn't make him look any less tired.

If anything… he looked even more tired than before.

He smiled dryly. "More like I never really slept, senpai."

"Too much on the mind?" It was something she asked rather rhetorically. Given that he had killed someone that she'd surmised to be a good friend of his, it was only natural that sleep wasn't something he would easily obtain.

"Kind of… though sometimes, it feels like the opposite to me," he muttered in reply.

It made her quirk a delicate eyebrow and survey the teen with just a bit more interest.

In all honesty, something about this boy had intrigued her from the very start. Although they haven't even known each other, much less interact with one another, for a full day, she felt her interest in him grow with every little thing.

She'd never been one for gossip back in school, but even she'd heard vaguely about a second-year student that was notorious for both his slacking and seemingly perpetual fatigue, as if constantly worn out by every day life. She'd also heard he'd even been in a few fights here and there back when he was a first-year, but nothing really confirmed this tidbit of info. But it was notable in that he never was said to have actually lost any of these fights…

In any case, when Komuro-kun had first introduced himself yesterday, Saeko had had certain expectations of him, which had been blown away by how lively he'd been during their escape from the school. Then again, running for one's life can do that to people.

But his quiet alertness during the argument yesterday over Sugou-san's request had surprised her as had his equally stoic but certain acceptance to be the deceased teen's executioner.

It painted the boy sitting not too far from her in a new light.

He certainly was a puzzle.

"I see," she said in response to his words just now, unable to really comment beyond that. "Heard anything suspicious during the night?"

He shook his head. "Nah, not really. Seems like those zombies really are calm and cool when no one's around to grab their attention… and none of those other things seemed to be nearby either."

Saeko nodded and smiled a bit. "That's good to know. Looks like our barricade may last without challenge."

"Sure hope so." He then looked at her in mild confusion. "So, what are you doing up already, Busujima senpai? Sun's barely even rising."

"Ah, waking up this early is something I'm used to doing. As a practitioner of the sword, it's common to rise early in order to train. Though I'm afraid that's rather impossible to do now with those things roaming around outside." She paused. "But I figured I could start making breakfast, if nothing else. Are you hungry? You didn't eat at all last night, right? I could make you something first, if you'd like."

At her offer, Komuro-kun looked surprised, even a little flustered. "A-Ah, you don't have to. I can wait until everyone else is up."

"You sure? That might be a while…" Everyone else were still out like lights. They likely wouldn't be waking up for another hour at the most.

"It's fine. But thanks, senpai." He smiled, looking really quite grateful for the offer. For once, his eyes seemed to lose that constant look of fatigue.

It made him look really nice, more so than he already does.

It made her smile in return. "Saeko."

"Eh?"

She giggled softly. "I like for my friends to call me by my name. Given the events of yesterday, I'd also like to think we've all become friends now, yes? Or am I being a bit too presumptuous?"

At her words, Komuro-kun seemed to babble a bit in genuine surprise, only to trail off and shake his head as if to physically shake off his current emotions. After doing this, he smiled again, enough to show his teeth a bit. "Heh, guess so… Saeko. Hope you don't mind all of us being in this together for a while."

"Not at all, Komuro-kun. Then if you'll excuse me, I think I'll start breakfast. We're going to need to eat quite a bit to make sure we're at all full strength."

"…Think you could use a hand?"

Now it was her turn to be surprised. She never would've expected such words to ever leave his mouth. Call it outdated or whatever, but she believed the kitchen to be a woman's domain as a result of her upbringing, rooted in Japanese tradition, beliefs included. To have a boy offer to even help threw her for a loop.

Nonetheless, it brought another smile to her face. Her eyes twinkled with fascination.

"I certainly wouldn't mind a little help."

* * *

Waking up not long after the sun started to rise, Rei was quick to note the smell of food reaching throughout the hall and down to the bedroom.

Her mouth automatically watered as a result and in a still semi-sleepy haze, got up and followed the smell towards to the kitchen area, only vaguely aware that the others there was starting to wake up too from it.

It put her in something of a good mood, the mere thought of simply letting herself go whilst eating helping to combat the despair that yesterday had brought her.

Binge-eating wasn't really something she'd ever been prone to… but now was as good a time as any to indulge, she supposed.

However, her good mood began to die when she heard not one but two voices coming from the kitchen.

The sight she saw only made her mood die for good.

There, helping Busujima senpai was none other than Takashi. The teen in question still looked tired as hell, but simultaneously managed to look a bit more alive than he'd been looking yesterday as he and the third-year chatted amicably as they finished up cooking, the completed breakfast already set on plates on the dining table for the most part.

The sight of seeing Takashi already looking so cheery – that is, cheery for him – after the world had gone to hell and taking Hisashi along with it irritated Rei immensely. She and Hisashi may not have been dating for that long, but they'd gotten close in the time they'd been together and she knew that Hisashi and Takashi had been pretty decent friends, her relationship with the two of them notwithstanding.

To now see Takashi, Hisashi's supposed friend, looking so upbeat the morning after killing him… well, perhaps irritated wasn't the proper word after all.

She made a sound, a groan not unlike one normally made when up and still out of it. It got their attention and put an end to their quiet yet lively chat.

"Ah, Miyamoto-san," Busujima spoke, the tall girl's eyes widening marginally before narrowing considerably. It was slight, but the tone of voice just now was equal parts soft and annoyed. Looks like the swordswoman didn't like having someone so abruptly butting into things.

"R-Rei…!" Takashi, for his part, merely sounded surprised at the sight of her already up.

"Glad to see the two of you relaxing after yesterday," she said. "Not every day we go through the things we did."

She looked to Takashi rather accusingly as she said that last part. Sure enough, he flinched at the obvious implication behind her words-.

Hisashi.

After flinching, the lively look in his eyes and expression went away and he visibly returned to the quiet and grumpy looking guy he normally was.

This was a change that didn't go unnoticed by Busujima, who looked to Takashi in concern before leveling a mild yet stern glare at Rei.

Rei, for the most part, was unapologetic… but there was still a part of her that screamed at herself for doing that to Takashi. Just because she was still sad and upset didn't mean she had to go bringing others down with her.

But what was done is done.

"…Breakfast is ready, everyone," Takashi mumbled as he turned to wash his hands and wipe up at the sink. "Go take a seat if you want."

There was a light pitter-patter of footsteps behind Rei and she turned in genuine surprise to see the others were up, standing just several feet behind her. Off in the distance, she could just barely see Hirano getting off the couch, reaching slowly for his glasses.

The looks on their faces indicated that they heard just enough to know what had gone on. Yet none of them said anything and merely went to wash up and head for the dining table in silence.

"Go take a seat, Rei. I'll be over there in just a minute." Takashi's voice was back to its usual tired tone and it only filled her with more guilt.

In her anger, she'd gone just a step too far.

All she could do in response was nod to Takashi's back and leave to wash up and go sit alongside the others.

As she left, she could feel Busujima's glare still boring into her.

* * *

As everyone gathered and ate a delicious breakfast, Saya did her best to keep from huffing throughout.

While she succeeded in staying quiet, she couldn't quite stop herself from shooting glances at three particular people: Takashi, Rei, and Busujima.

It was the first two in particular that she looked at throughout the morning meal, the first one in mild sympathy and the latter in genuine annoyance.

Rei was a girl that Saya had known since they were kids. They got along pretty well back then but as they grew up, they sort of just drifted apart as different things took priority in their lives. Still, Saya had liked to think there was still something there between the two of them, a strong acquaintanceship if nothing else.

She also liked to think that she still knew the girl, but apparently had been somewhat wrong. She never would've thought Rei to be the kind of person to make such a petty comment like that.

For once, Saya actually looked to Takashi in sympathy. A slacker the guy may be, he'd proven to be surprisingly lively yesterday and level-headed during the argument yesterday when it came to Sugou's request. That the teen then went through with it in such a timely manner just surprised her more, having caused her to reevaluate the opinion she'd held of him for years now.

But reevaluated opinions or not, it was a plain and simple fact that what Rei did was a bitch move, especially since for once in a long while Takashi had actually looked happier when he'd been speaking with Busujima.

That all said though…

What a tense breakfast this was. Everyone was silent as they ate and not simply because of Rei ruining Takashi's mood. Her comment had also made them all aware once again of the state the world now seemed to be in well before they had any time to even entertain the thought of it being a bad dream.

Her comment had therefore been twofold in nature and it wasn't until after they all finished eating and Hayashi-sensei insisted on collecting all the plates and putting them in the sink that it was finally addressed.

And so, just as the teacher came back, Saya decided to get the ball rolling.

Letting out a long huff that she'd been holding back, she opted to get straight to the point. "Well then, what are we going to do now? Aside from checking on our families, I mean."

That much was obvious, something that really went without saying but needed to be said anyways for the sake of confirmation. And there was one more important question that needed to be asked too…

"And how? With those things roaming the streets and whatever that creature had been out there too, it's not like we can just drive from one place to another constantly." The mere fact they had to abandon Hayashi-sensei's truck a few blocks back said enough about this. Any loud enough noise was only going to draw very much unwanted attention from those zombies.

Saya then shuffled around a bit in her school uniform, it being the only clothes that she and the other girls had on hand, save for Hayashi-sensei since this was her place and the nurse who was wearing clothes lent from the other adult there. Evidently, the two shared similar measurements barring bust size, the nurse having to resort to her blouse from yesterday.

She grimaced silently. Perhaps they could do something about clothes first now that she thought about it. Running around in their school uniforms wasn't all that appealing a thing either.

"Well, for sure, we're going to need resources," Hayashi-sensei spoke up. She was currently without her glasses yet still pressed up on the top of her nose as if to push up an invisible pair she had. An unconscious action that was also likely a sign of nervousness, Saya realized. "It's not like we can carry absolutely everything we need from here with us. We'll need to make stops as we go."

"W-Weapons too," the geek then said shyly. Saya could see Kohta look back towards the couch he'd been sleeping on, where his makeshift weapon was lying against. "Preferably something we can use from afar – having those things up close isn't really…"

Yeah, that definitely went without saying. Those things were far too vicious and strong to fend off up close, especially if they managed to grab them. The porker's idea, while obvious too to her, really was a damn good one.

"Erm, I don't exactly have any guns lying around though…" Hayashi-sensei muttered.

"Well," Kohta began. "If you're okay with it, sensei, can I look around and see what you have. I might be able to come up with some stuff for us."

The teacher nodded and Kohta perked up at the permission given. Evidently, he was excited.

"But what about our families?" Rei then asked. "And how to reach them?" She asked these two questions hesitantly, clearly ashamed over what happened earlier, but still willing to speak her mind nonetheless. Saya supposed she'll give the girl that much praise for now.

"My parents are already dead," Hayashi-sensei said softly. "They had me late in life and passed away several years back. I was an only child, so no siblings to worry about either."

"Mine live up north. Normally it's a three-hour drive to reach them, but now…" the nurse, Shizuka, said before trailing off. Her statement was enough to make them all wince. If it normally takes that long to reach them with decent traffic, then trying to reach them now with those things running around everywhere was going to take _much_ longer, to the point it may very be impossible unless the situation drastically changed.

"What about yours then, porker?" Saya asked Kohta.

"My parents were on an overseas trip – touring military bases in America," he said sheepishly.

Ah, that'd explain his fascination with guns and all that military stuff. Then with these three families out…

"So, it's just mine, Rei's and Takashi's families left… yours too, Busujima," Saya commented.

"Ah, my mother died not long after I was born, so my father is the only immediate family I have left," Busujima said. "Knowing him, once this disaster started, he likely went off to help others. He won't be anywhere near the dojo."

"My dad's an inspector so he likely was out in the city when all that happened… and mom was a former officer, so she probably took off to help before the 911 lines went down," Rei then spoke up after Busujima did.

That only left her family and Takashi's then.

"But is there a chance any of them will try to return home to see if you made it back somehow?" Hayashi-sensei asked.

"Maybe, but if they're in the same boat as us, it's going to be a while before that happens. And I live the next district over, so…" Rei began.

"The same is true for me," Busujima replied. "My father also has a great deal of faith in my ability with the sword, so it wouldn't surprise me if he even took longer to circle back home."

"T-That's an awful lot of faith he has in you…" Kohta mumbled.

Busujima merely smiled. "At the risk of sounding arrogant, I'm skilled enough in the way of the sword to warrant such faith."

"But using only a sword against zombies and those things… and a wooden one at that too…"

"So, the point is," Saya began. She could foresee an argument about the effectiveness of guns vs. swords between these two if she let this go on too long. Best to stop that well before it could start. "All of you won't be able to reach your families any time soon for various reasons."

Getting nods from them all so far, Saya prepared to continue, only to pause and then look to Takashi, who seemed kind of out of it. Had Rei's comment truly affected him that much?

She was about to call out to him specifically, but then he looked up and at her just before she could do so.

"My parents can take care of themselves."

The rather sudden statement took them all off guard. He just sounded so sure of this.

"You sure about that, Komuro-kun?" the nurse asked in concern.

Takashi nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure."

He didn't elaborate on that and for some reason, the firmness of his tone was enough to keep them all from asking for details.

With all that said, the only family left was…

"Your own, Takagi-san," Kohta said. "How's your family doing, you think?"

"…I'm sure they're fine. More than certain they are." She sighed. "Plus, they'll likely have all the resources we may need for any other little trips we might have to make. And they're fairly close by, but it'll still take a solid day or two of travel to reach them and that's assuming we have some mode of transportation."

It was that last bit that was the clincher. On foot, reaching her home would take several days and that was assuming they traveled a decent distance each day without having to make any crazy detours for their own safety.

"That's… that's really quite convenient, all things considered." Hayashi-sensei looked perplexed, almost even suspicious, of what she'd said. "Takagi-san, just what kind of people are your family?"

"You'll see if we can get to them," Saya grumbled out. She wasn't exactly embarrassed of her parents' influence and power but speaking of it wasn't something she was used to. Not even this situation would change this part of her.

But the way Rei and even Takashi seemed to just snort and lightly smirk respectively right after her comment only made the others' interest in her family grow considerably. Unlike the others here, Rei and Takashi knew exactly what her family was like; they'd been over to her house once or twice when they were all in kindergarten and even though that was years and years ago when they were young and stupid kids, her family and their property weren't exactly things someone can easily forget.

"Sounds like we all know where to go then." Surprisingly, Takashi was the one to say this. "I'm guessing we all want to get moving soon so we should probably start getting all our shit together, right?"

He was already standing up and looked to her for confirmation. Saya nodded. "If we really do want to start looking for our families, starting with my own, then we ought to go as soon as possible. Just because things are calm right now doesn't mean it'll stay that way for too long. We've rested up enough, I'd say."

The whole point of coming here to Hayashi-sensei's penthouse suite in the first place was partially to treat Sugou initially and simply to find a place to rest until a proper plan and safe location can be thought of.

This may be rather sudden to decide on going to her family after only a few minutes or so of mild discussion – and barely at that, it'd mainly been her rattling off questions and statements and the others responding – but to be frank, Saya wasn't liking being cooped up in this place for any longer than she had to be.

Being this deep into the city, where the population was dense and therefore so was the zombie horde, wasn't exactly comforting. If anything went wrong while staying here, they'd have little in the ways of escape options. It wasn't as if smashing the glass walls and jumping out were an option, after all, unless suicide was truly the only option left.

Thankfully, the others seemed to understand this.

"Sounds good to me," Rei said.

"Agreed," spoke Busujima.

"I'll get started on finding some stuff for weapons," Kohta commented. "Hayashi-sensei, you have any tools? How about cabinets for spray cans of any kind?"

"A-Ah, let me show you where…" Hayashi-sensei replied.

"U-Uhm, guess I'll try scrounging up whatever's left from the first-aid kit?" the nurse said uncertainly.

"That'd be ideal. No telling how soon or how severe any of us could end up hurt," Saya said to the buxom nurse.

She tried to keep from twitching in mild annoyance as she saw the nurse become much more certain of herself now, her breasts bouncing greatly as she spun around and dashed back to the room, where the kit was at.

As everyone started to swiftly gather things up to move out, Saya let out a sigh.

This had proceeded much quicker than she thought it would. She sure hoped this wasn't a sign of something bad.

It was too early in the morning for something bad to go down.

* * *

Kyoko Hayashi had on occasion entertained the thought of a crisis occurring. Not necessarily the death and destruction that would follow such a crisis, especially not one of this nightmarish and unnatural scale, but rather of her own actions during such a time.

Would she, as a teacher tasked with watching over the students, be able to do her duty? Would she be able to keep a level head and do everything she can to ensure her students and others around her remained as safe as can be?

These sorts of thoughts used to plague her greatly, such was the burden of her position sometimes, a burden that she took all too seriously more often than not. It was only thanks to the now deceased Teshima-sensei and the other staff members that she'd learned to lighten up every now and then to avoid being too stressed.

And now… now, just look at the situation so far.

When her good friend, Teshima-sensei, had been killed by that… that _abomination_ , and had become one of those zombies and started killing, her mind hadn't been filled with thoughts of going back to protect the students or guiding them to somewhere safe. No, instead she'd frozen up for a split second before running to hide as the zombie outbreak at Fujimi high school had spread faster than a wildfire. If not for a few of the students – Komuro-kun, Miyamoto-san, and Sugou-kun – having conveniently hidden in the same room as her, she might have ended up staying in her hastily chosen spot until she'd been found by someone – or something – else or until she simply had died of starvation or something.

Not only that, but up until now, rather than take charge as the only proper adult of the group that had formed back at the school – Shizuka, as much as she liked the nurse, wasn't quite leadership material herself – she'd instead allowed her fear and despair to take hold of her and ended up causing the students, the ones she should be protecting, to sort of run the show since then.

That said students were able to do what they felt needed to be done to ensure their survival up until now simply amazed her and Kyoko felt genuine admiration towards them all, especially to Sugou-kun and Komuro-kun, the former for having the resolve to die in order to prevent himself from becoming one of those things and the latter for having the resolve to kill his friend for said friend's sake.

At the same time, however, Kyoko couldn't help but loath herself as she and Shizuka brought up the rear of the group alongside Takagi-san.

It's been just a few minutes since they all had assembled with everything they could afford to bring with them on their trek to Takagi-san's home.

The barricade they'd made had been cleared and now Komuro-kun, armed with a large kitchen knife she owned, had stepped out into the hallway to make sure the coast was clear while the rest of them stayed behind to await his confirmation.

Busujima-san and Miyamoto-san stood at the front of the group by the door, the former wielding her wooden sword while the latter had taken the handle of a broom from here to use as a makeshift spear, the wood sturdy enough to endure surprising punishment.

Hirano-kun stood not too far behind the two fighter girls, his nail gun held firmly in hand with his trigger finger pointedly resting on the side of the weapon rather than on the trigger itself – gun safety, he'd said as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Kyoko took his word for it – she had no knowledge whatsoever with guns of any kind.

Then behind him was the three of them, herself, Shizuka and Takagi-san. Shizuka was carrying the first-aid kit, large enough in size that carrying any weapon of her own was pretty much impossible due to how unwieldy it'd be… not to mention that no one here really trusted her with a weapon; too ditsy, medical knowledge aside.

As for her and Takagi-san, both of them wielded what could only be described as makeshift flamethrowers. Hirano-kun had found two unopened spray bottles and lighters, duck-taping them together so that if they switched the lighters on and sprayed, it'd make for a pretty powerful blast of sudden flames.

Kyoko earnestly prayed that such a case wouldn't come where she'd have to use it.

A moment later, Busujima-san nodded, having been peering out the door to spot Komuro-kun's 'all clear' gesture.

The group quickly poured out into hallway and very lightly jogged to catch up with the knife-wielding teen, who awaited them by the stairs.

Komuro-kun already had the door to the stairway opened and kept it open for them by putting down the little leg the door had to fix it in place. He headed down first to once again act as vanguard.

As they all entered the stairway and headed down, it was with a much slower speed than before, trying not to make their footsteps too loud, seeing as things always echo in stairways.

What should've only taken them a minute took several times longer, Kyoko feeling insanely tense as they walked to the bottom level.

She nearly whimpered when it sounded as if the kit Shizuka carried jangled a little too loudly and found herself wishing to be back in her penthouse suite.

But she fought the desire to rush back up with all she had. After all, these teens had families to get back to and considering the chaos and ensuing body count that had ensured within just hours alone yesterday, a whole additional day of waiting to venture out could make one hell of a difference between life and death for any other survivors out there, the students' families included.

Time could be of the essence and Kyoko tried to resolve herself to keep up.

Said resolution crumbled just a bit when they all managed to traverse out to the lobby area of the entire building and took a side exit, exposing them all to what lied outside.

It was far from a pretty sight, one that had been there before, but one that none of them had taken the time to truly take in yesterday since holing up had been top priority.

The city, what they could see of it from here, was just a wreck. Vehicles, primarily cars but with buses and trucks here and there too, had crashed into one another or into building walls. Some of the windows for these crashed and sometimes overturned vehicles sported dried blood that didn't always result from the crash itself, if the blood spatter was anything to judge by.

Small fires that were slowly fizzling out could be seen within some buildings and cars, another result of the crashes or oil being spilt and alit by something.

Pavement and asphalt was cracked or even outright destroyed in various spots, as if something had rammed hard against it or even through it and the same could be said for some of the buildings too, people having undoubtedly been thrown about hard by those zombies during the course of yesterday.

Windows on a lot of the taller buildings looked broken… from the inside. Kyoko tried not to dwell on the obvious implications.

But what really had her attention – indeed, the attention of the entire group – were the bodies. Those of the dead… and undead.

The former, those who are genuinely dead, practically littered the streets. Some looked as if they'd fallen from great heights – "Don't think of it," Kyoko muttered to herself – their bodies little more than broken and bloodied messes as a result of said falls while other bodies that could be seen within demolished cafes and stores nearby seemed to be missing pieces of themselves, entire limbs and organs looking torn apart or eaten. What looked like brain matter and feces could be seen too, a plethora of people having undoubtedly lost control of their bowels from sheer terror prior to death.

And then… there were the latter.

The undead.

Their bodies stood out even more than the others, what remained of their skin looking much paler than the other bodies while the bones that jutted out looked brittle, coagulated blood covering the wounds that they'd received before they became what they were or after, while their eyes remained dull and vacant.

The mere fact that a fair number of the undead littered the streets showed that some people had at least fought back… and fought back successfully to some extent.

However, that still didn't change the fact that the undead well outnumbered the living in the city now. For they still walked the streets, including this one as moaning and groaning filled Kyoko's ears.

There weren't as many shambling as around as she'd feared, most likely because a majority of them had been drawn to noise elsewhere since yesterday, but their numbers still naturally exceeded the group's by one hell of a margin.

There were several just walking across the street from them, looking to be office workers from a place Kyoko had seen countless times down the street.

One of them looked to be an elderly office worker, a woman whose blouse had been torn to reveal a pale and sagging breast covered with dried blood while the other breast looked to have been eaten. Dreadful looking bite marks littered the undead's wrinkled face and neck, so much so that even a light blow could probably knock its lower jaw clean off. The left ankle was broken and twisted, slowly oozing coagulated blood onto the undead's bare foot.

This one seemed to almost be leading the others there, for the others, equally horrific and sickening to look upon given the states of their bodies, swayed back and forth to try and match its own swaying.

There seemed to be other little 'groups' of zombies as well here and there, much to their confusion.

"It's almost like they're packs… no, they are packs…" muttered Takagi-san quietly as she adjusted the glasses Kyoko had given her earlier. "I know a zombie apocalypse in and of itself is crazy, but even then, this is just…"

"Uhm, Takagi-san, think we can save the thinking for later?" whispered Hirano-kun, sweating a bit from being out in the open like this.

Takagi-san grumbled but nodded reluctantly. "No cars for now – this deep in the city, starting one up will draw who knows how much attention."

So, they'd have to travel by foot then… Kyoko didn't like that thought, but it wasn't as if there was another option.

At Takagi-san's words, Komuro-kun stepped forward and picked up a small chunk of asphalt that had been knocked loose from one of the many car crashes and tumbles. He lightly tossed it up and down in his right hand for a moment, eyeing it intently.

"Takashi…?" both Miyamoto-san and Takagi-san said at the same time. They sounded hesitant and Kyoko knew why.

Hell, they all knew what he was about to do.

Sure enough, Komuro-kun turned around, posing like a professional baseball pitcher before hurling the chunk at an angle through the air.

It flew fast, easily as fast as some of the greatest pitchers in the world could throw a ball, and very far, Kyoko losing sight of it for a brief second almost immediately after it'd been thrown.

She actually gaped. Komuro-kun had a deceptive amount of strength, it would seem. He should've tried out for a sports team.

But then a few seconds later, she winced as she heard the thrown chunk strike a car off in the distance, setting off the alarm which still clearly was in working order.

Komuro-kun immediately motioned for them to huddle up against the wall as the noise got the attention of the undead nearby, including the group that had been across the street from them.

The undead snarled and seemed to glare in the direction of the noise before dashing towards it, regardless of the states of their bodies. But they did so without the same level of speed they'd demonstrated before. They even sounded far less vicious as they all charged past the group and towards the car.

This was something that didn't go unnoticed by Kyoko nor the others, all of them sharing a glance as the street as well as those nearby to the west of them cleared up for the most part.

"They weren't as vicious as before… have they somehow started to differentiate between noises?" Takagi-san mumbled in genuine intrigue, but there was a level of worry there too.

Kyoko shared this worry. If that was the case, then distracting the zombies would become harder to do.

Takagi-san then went from contemplative to angry in a second and glared at Komuro-kun. "Why'd you do that?!" she hissed. "We could've circled around the building that way!"

"…I dumped Hisashi's body over there," he said quietly.

That shut the pink haired girl up. Kyoko could see Miyamoto-san tense up at the boy's name too.

"Other way it is then," Busujima-san then said in a low voice, nodding respectfully.

They all could only nod back and instead circle around the building the other way in order to reach the street they had to walk down to eventually get to Takagi-san's home.

The number of zombies that still roamed the area, while far less than the multitude seen yesterday, was still unnervingly great, Kyoko doing all she could to keep from whimpering whenever the group had no choice but to stray just a little too close to some of the zombies to get around various large potholes and other obstructions in the road.

It was well over fifteen minutes of a tense and uncomfortable silence before the zombie hordes thinned out enough for the area to almost be considered devoid of them.

Kyoko's legs shook as she took in this fact, nearly collapsing then and there. Despite their trek still very much only beginning, she already felt so exhausted thanks to sheer nerves.

To think they still had so great a distance to go… will they be able to make it there in one piece? Can she?

Busujima-san had caught up with Komuro-kun during their brief trek thus far, the two of them walking almost side by side. The former watched the left while the latter took the right. As they neared the end of the shopping/business district and started getting relatively close to the residential area of the city, the two of them suddenly froze in place.

Komuro-kun held up a hand to tell them to stop too and they all did so hastily.

A few seconds pass by without anything being said…

And that was when they all heard it.

A sickening gurgling sound that no human, living or undead, could ever produce.

It was coming from under the manhole just up ahead.

The entire group shivered, recognizing this for what it was – one of those surreal creatures, like that thing that had given chase after them in the truck.

"Stay to the sides," Komuro-kun ordered quietly. "No telling if this thing's arm or something will burst out and try to grab for us."

"What a pleasant thought…" Miyamoto-san muttered dryly but obeyed along with the others.

Komuro-kun and Busujima-san remained where they were while the rest of them scooted along the nearby wall and bypassed the manhole that Kyoko could now swear was moving ever so lightly…

Thankfully, nothing happened and the group's two vanguards swiftly caught up immediately afterwards.

"Which way now?" Hirano-kun asked slowly.

"This way," Takagi-san answered as she stepped forward to guide them all. The haughtiness and short temper the pink-haired girl displayed earlier was all but gone now, the near encounter with another one of those creatures evidently scaring her.

"We really gotta pick up the pace, I think," Komuro-kun grumbled out. "…Seems like it's following us."

Something was slithering audibly after them. The sound was coming from under the street. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together.

"Don't walk too fast," Takagi-san whispered. "Might just make it do more than follow us. Just keep a steady pace; the sewers don't travel _that_ far."

"R-Right," Kyoko feebly answered back, once again feeling ashamed at how she, the adult, was being led and comforted by those younger than her.

She tried to assure herself that she was only acting this way because she still had yet to fully comprehend and accept what was going on.

It didn't work one bit.

The group continued their journey for the rest of the day in solemn silence.

* * *

 **Done!**

 **Yeah, not much happening in this chapter really, but if I'd continued on until this got to some action, this chapter would easily be 30+ pages long. That may not exactly be a bad thing per say but I don't want to make you guys wait that long just for one update.**

 **Not to worry though, things will start picking up in the next chapter and especially when they do get to Saya's house. Can't say what exactly will happen, can't even drop a hint, but I'm confident it'll be something fairly surprising and enjoyable.**

 **Whelp, not much else that needs to be said here.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	5. Chapter 5

Saw Deadpool 2 recently and I have to say, it really impressed. This is all strictly my opinion, of course, but it seemed to improve a good deal from the first film, albeit with not quite as many humorous moments. Maybe the first one got me a little too used to Deadpool's brand of humor or something because just about everyone else in the theater with me were practically dying at all the jokes/gags, whereas I, while entertained, didn't laugh as much as I thought I would.

Then again, did have a pretty hectic week or two just prior to watching it…

Well, that aside, also saw the trailer for the new DC animated film – the Death of Superman! A lot of the comments on Youtube complained about the story being done too often in animation or live action, when this is really only the third time Superman is going to die by Doomsday's hands, first time it'll be so comic accurate. Not to mention all the other comments complaining about it being done in the New 52 style animation and setting. Personally, I'm quite looking forward to it. Always liked the New 52 versions of the characters, mainly because while not quite as ideal as the Post-Crisis versions of the characters, they all still have the potential to grow into said idealistic versions.

Plus, I just like Superman's New 52 design, especially the animated one. Something about his looks just really suits him in my eyes.

Shame I and others that want to watch it have to wait until July for the digital and August for the blu-ray. Here's to hoping time goes by smoothly!

Chapter 5

Kohta wasn't sure if he should be amazed at how swift the whole day went by or terrified by the sheer lack of action and the relative silence that had ensued.

Barring the near encounter with whatever was squirming under them in the sewers, the zombie hordes had been remarkably thin, spread out, likely due to the group having traveled through the residential area.

Must be because all of them had been drawn by various noises during the initial outbreak or something. In any case, seeing all the homes looking abandoned and utterly wrecked disheartened the gun geek immensely.

It really set him on edge too – there'd been too much blood splattered around to be the work of the zombies, no matter how many may have torn apart any would-be survivors. Not to mention the damage done to some of the houses…

Had that one monster that had given chase strolled through here? Judging by the massive holes in some of the houses, it seemed just about the right size, but something about it didn't seem right. The shape seemed a bit wrong.

A different creature, maybe?

Wouldn't be surprising, given how the world seemed to be. But if so, just what kind of creature was it? And just how many of them were there?

Just how long can they go without bumping into one for real?

Kohta thought they were all pretty damned lucky so far, but luck only goes so far.

Night had come all too quickly, everyone tired from all the walking and even light jogging they'd done today. The psychological stress of never knowing what may happen next didn't help either and the lack of any action that day only made them all that much tenser.

It had helped even less during the night when he, Komuro, Busujima senpai and Hayash-sensei had taken up sentry duty for the group as they all rested – well, tried to rest – in a nearby park. They'd alternated shifts every two hours and during their shifts, they all heard something nearby.

It'd sounded somewhat similar to footsteps, but too flitty and quick to be a zombie, which had kept Kohta on serious edge when he'd tried to sleep after his shift had ended. Same thing goes for the others for when the next day had officially started and all of them arose, not one person looked particularly well-rested.

So now it was the start of day two for them outside of Hayashi-sensei's penthouse suite and amazingly as the fatigue really started hitting them, Kohta almost found himself happy to see some zombies, bloodied and with bones popping out of their torsos, slumping around just a few blocks over as they walked, if only because these potential threats were visible.

However, they'd also been blocking the way they had to go. Kohta eagerly remedied that with his make-shift weapon, double-tapping them in their heads with his nail gun. The zombies scarcely let out a final cry as they plopped to the street, truly dead.

His sense of elation at relieving some stress was very short-lived though, his fatigue from yesterday and last night returning.

"Just how do you put up with this feeling?" he asked Komuro when he and the other boy quietly dragged the officially dead bodies out of their way.

"Easy, I'm just too stubborn to give in," Komuro remarked.

Stubborn, eh? Kohta sure wished he could be that stubborn himself; he could barely keep himself awake even now. Not even with the sun rising swiftly into his eyes did he fully wake up. It was impressive he'd even been able to shoot these zombies so quickly and accurately.

Adrenaline, perhaps?

Oh well, no time to dwell on it. Just move on.

So that's what the group did.

"Yay, another day of walking," Takagi-san muttered in annoyance. Rather funny of her to do so since it was her home they were all heading towards. "Stop smirking at my suffering, porker!"

"R-Right, sorry." Damn, she saw his facial expression.

Komuro patted him lightly at the shoulder. "I've been in your shoes, man. And trust me, I've seen her when she's really angry. Consider yourself lucky so far." Komuro shot him a tired grin.

"Shut up, Takashi! Get a move on!" Takagi-san growled out lowly.

Komuro merely snorted in good humor, but obliged.

Soon enough, they all were walking briskly once more.

And once more, Kohta had to look discreetly at Komuro and ponder the teen's existence. His words just now had been to cheer him up and for that Kohta was thankful, but Komuro's words had lacked any real heat and his grin hadn't really met his eyes.

Given just how exhausted the teen perpetually looked, it could have simply been due to a severe lack of proper rest, but even then… something about Komuro just inherently rubbed the gun geek the wrong way.

Onwards, the group walked, their feet aching as a few hours passed without slowing their pace. It was a cool day, but the sun was now out in full and this combined with their exertion in their walking was making them break out in sweat all over.

Kohta did his best to not stare as the girls' clothes slowly yet surely began to cling to their buxom figures, bras showing through slightly.

"F-Frills…" he mumbled under his breath as he unconsciously looked to Hayashi-sensei, her simple long-sleeved shirt just light enough in color to reveal the black and surprisingly frilly bra she wore under it to support her breasts, easily the second largest of the females in the group.

He shook his head, trying to focus back on the task at hand. He couldn't afford to let himself be distracted now of all times, especially not when it steadily became apparent that there were more zombies wandering around this section of the neighborhood.

But he'd become so busy focusing on staying focused – what a conundrum that was – that he nearly ended up walking past everyone else when they'd suddenly stopped.

It took Miyamoto hastily grabbing him by the back of his shirt to snap him out of his thoughts and realize the situation.

Komuro, having been walking alongside Takagi-san who led the way, had stopped in place, holding the girl by her arm almost a little too tightly if the way she was wincing was anything to go by.

"What's wrong?" Miyamoto asked in worry.

Komuro let go of Takagi-san's arm and drew forth the knife he'd armed himself with.

As he did so, Busujima senpai's posture changed to something he'd only seen in those old samurai movies, the third-year ready to draw her wooden sword in an instant. Next to him, Miyamoto took up a stance too, readying her own weapon just in case.

He too prepared himself, settling into a firm stance so that the recoil of his weapon, however slight, didn't knock him onto his own ass.

As for Takagi-san, Hayashi-sensei, and Shizuka, the three girls merely tensed up.

Kohta felt the bead of sweat that had been forming above his right eye grow even more before rolling down.

Now he was beginning to understand why Komuro had stopped so suddenly-.

-They weren't alone in this area anymore.

* * *

Takashi had been genuinely surprised by how smoothly the first day of traveling had gone, but he'd known from the start that it was only a matter of time until something came along to fuck things up.

He just hadn't quite been expecting shit to go down this early into their second day of traveling.

Thing is… there was nothing there.

No, that wasn't right. There were zombies here and there throughout the area, in even greater numbers than had been present so far throughout the residential district, but they were still just far enough away from the group that he wasn't too worried about them.

Besides, they all were being pretty damn quiet right now, so the shambling undead had no reason to even venture this way.

But still, Takashi just straight up knew they weren't alone anymore.

Call it intuition or whatever, but something was close by, practically out of the corner of his eyes or so it felt to him.

Aware of how the rest of the group was kind of beginning to freak themselves out from the tension and his lack of explanation, Takashi knew he had to make a move, if only to assuage his own fears first.

Stepping away slowly from Saya first, he took several quick steps forward before slashing at a downwards angle at the space in front of him.

Nothing.

He swung again, this time horizontally.

Still nothing.

Yet the sensation that he was being watched remained, not affected one bit.

He shot a look back at the group, seeing them all eyeing back with a baffled expression. Yeah, couldn't blame them – him swinging randomly like that just must have looked weird.

But he persisted. No way he was going to just shrug this off and have them all continue on their merry way. Not after starting this light mess.

So he walked forward some more, a bit more aggressively than he'd meant to, his footsteps just a little louder than was necessary.

Takashi could literally feel Saya's eyes boring holes into the back of his head. Her gaze was positively smoldering when some of the zombies nearby stirred, their dull expressions slowly changing to ones that were more lively and aggressive, though thankfully not into the rage filled expressions they'd shown back at the school.

The teen continued onwards though, reaching out with his right hand as if he were a recently blind man reaching desperately for something to grab onto.

In this case, what he was looking to grab was something to either confirm or dismiss his intuition, preferably the latter.

But he felt nothing, just air.

Now here he was, standing close to a house on the corner of the block. It had no fence, no wall, no barrier of any kind to keep out any intruders. The house had suffered for this, looking like massive cannon balls had been fired right through it. He could imagine what the inside and its homeowners must look like if the outside looked this fucked up.

The only thing about it that stood out was the large tree out in the front, the trunk easily five feet thick and with six branches that jutted out at the top.

"Christ, how did it even fit here? The front's practically tiny…" he commented.

He started to reach out with his hand in order to lean against it, his mind starting to feel frazzled all of a sudden. His exhaustion was only getting worse and psyching himself up like this over nothing was just adding to the effect.

Seriously, just what in the hell was wrong with him?

He let out a sigh, self-aware enough to make it a quiet one.

Hand on tree to steady himself, he leaned forward and closed his eyes, running his free hand through his hair and down his face.

"Fuck me…" He groaned as his hand fell from his chin and looked to the ground again as he tried to calm himself now. Once again, he'd overreacted-.

Wait.

The very bottom of the tree… there were no roots visible at all. Yet the dirt around it looked disturbed.

….Just what was up with the lawn too? There were entire patches of grass that just looked to be no longer there.

Almost as if someone big had stomped on-.

Takashi's eyes went wide. His breath hitched and his exhaustion momentarily vanished.

The instant this happened, the tree he was leaning against began to wriggle.

Then it outright _moved_.

* * *

What Rei saw honestly left the girl slack-jawed. Never before had she ever considered the possibility of a fucking tree uprooting itself.

Nor did she ever imagine the ends of the branches to be capable of balling up into things resembling fists or for the front of it to twist and morph into something vaguely resembling a face.

And it didn't look friendly one bit.

She watched as Takashi scrambled away from the now standing tree as long and thick 'legs' formed and stomped hard onto the street.

It roared like a kaiju right out of those Gojira films she used to watch with her dad as a kid and immediately all the zombies in the area screamed in response and made a mad dash for this spot.

Obviously, there was now only one thing to do.

"RUN!" she found herself screaming with abandon, the advantage of silence now gone thanks to the tree.

No one had to be told twice and they all started running as fast they as could.

But Rei soon felt that it didn't matter – from every direction she was vaguely aware of, zombies scrambled forth with the same relentless and rage filled expressions they sported back at the school. Even the ones that looked completely mangled, with limbs and bone dangling almost comically off their bodies, still charged for the group at terrifying speeds.

However, it was the tree creature that naturally took up most of their attention.

"Watch out!" Hayashi-sensei screamed as the creature took one giant step forward, nearly crushing Hirano under it.

Thankfully the portly teen proved to be rather nimble when really needed because he managed to skip to the side and do a minor barrel roll.

Then the tree creature brought its 'fist' down in a devastating punch that made the entire area practically quake.

Rei cried out in shock as the sheer power behind it sent her sprawling to the asphalt along with everyone else. Not even the zombies were spared this.

Unlike them though, the zombies didn't slow down much.

One of them even managed to swiftly crawl towards her, an athletic looking man in his 20s that now glared at her with nightmarish fury. The undead man pounced upon her, teeth bare as it tried to bite into her face, but Rei brought up her weapon just in time to slam it into its throat defensively.

She was able to keep it at bay, but just barely. It was stronger than her and so unbelievably vicious, trying to claw at her with its hands when forcing its head forward wasn't working. It tore at her clothes, ripping them apart bit by bit.

Rei screamed and squirmed, trying to force it back just enough to fully break free, but at the moment the tree creature took another step forward with all its weight behind it.

The ground rumbled and cracked and made her and her attacker bounce just enough for the zombie to lose its hold on her.

With a level of skill she hadn't known herself to be capable of, Rei was able to just barely land on her feet in something of a crouching stance and she used this opportunity to whack the zombie across its open jaws just as it tried crawling for her once more.

Her strike knocked out some of its loosened teeth and tore part of the skin, causing coagulated blood to slowly spill out, but the zombie just shrugged it off and kept coming.

She pulled her makeshift spear back and then with a cry, thrust it forward. The sharpened end went into its right eye deeply, nearly bursting through the back of its skull.

Although it didn't, it still struck the brain harshly and the instant this happened, all the malice and rage the zombie had demonstrated until now just vanished and it fell like a puppet with its strings cut.

Rei quickly pulled back and got up, turning to check on the others.

It was a ridiculous sight she ended up seeing.

The tree monster, towering over them all, stomped around like a petulant child, as if throwing a temper tantrum. There, running around its feet was none other than Busujima, who tried swinging her wooden sword at its legs at every chance she got.

She might as well have been lobbing marshmallows at the damend thing, for her strikes didn't even seem to disturb the bark that made up its body much at all. As strong and skilled as Busujima may be, it just wasn't enough to do anything at all beyond keeping the clumsy creature occupied.

As for Hirano, he'd loaded up his weapon and focused solely on firing at the incoming zombies, most of whom were now back on their feet after that initial stomp and punch.

There weren't too many in the area compared to the city, but there were still quite a lot and the horde was only growing bigger as the zombies all met up further down the main road.

Saya, Hayashi-sensei, and Shizuka were sticking close to Hirano, the first two utilizing those makeshift flamethrowers to ward off any zombies that got past Hirano's otherwise impeccable shooting, if only long enough for the aforementioned teen to spin around and shoot a nail through the zombies' heads.

Then there was Takashi.

The boy she'd once upon a time agreed to marry as a kid was dashing around, banging on walls and on the ground to grab some of the zombies' attention, hence why none had really been approaching her and the others for the past moment.

"What is he thinking?!" Rei screamed to no one in particular.

Admirable though his action was, it was only drawing that many more zombies to himself. Just what the hell was he even thinking of doing next?

So worried was she over this that it took her a solid second to realize she'd just been standing around.

That was no good.

Shaking her head to rid herself of her doubts as much as possible, she steeled herself and charged into the fray.

They all had to make it out of this nightmare together. That couldn't be done if she just let them do all the work.

Her own fucked up feelings aside, she understood that much.

And she'd be damned if she didn't at least try.

* * *

Saeko's strategy was an almost hilariously simple one: don't let this monstrosity punch anything at all.

Its upper body, if it could be called that, was noticeably thicker than its lower half, sporting the tree equivalent of greater muscle mass and therefore was more of a puncher than anything else.

Given how much more fiercely the area had shook when it had punched rather than those other stomps of its, Saeko was certain she was on point. In which case, all she had to do was stick just close enough to it to make it try to stomp her to death rather than rear back a fist.

Mercifully enough, it was clumsy too and rather slow, its next stomp telegraphed from a mile away as its foot was brought down onto the spot where she'd just been standing.

Saeko had already moved well away from the spot and on pure instinct ended up spinning and delivering a few quick slashes with her wooden sword.

She really shouldn't have bothered, but years of training and sparring had made it all but impossible for her to ignore these openings.

Even so, the tall teenaged girl dearly wished she could stop herself from attacking. All she was succeeding in doing was angering it further and causing her own bones to rattle from the feedback.

She considered herself to be quite fit, but she was nowhere near capable of cleaving through trees, provided they were thick enough. Especially not when armed with a wooden sword and up against something that was even tougher than it should be.

Gritting her teeth in mild pain and worry, Saeko proceeded to dash right under the tree creature, hoping that it would try to turn around and give her a chance to start circling around it properly.

But much to her surprise, its legs merely bent and seemingly dislocated themselves for a split second, the joints moving in such a way that its stance now vaguely resembled a flamingo almost.

It attempted to kick at her as if she were a soccer ball and with a rather surprising speed too. She was just scarcely able to throw herself to the side, avoiding what would've been a fatal attack. Even then, the kick had been so strong, it ripped up part of the street and sent large chunks of asphalt flying through nearby houses. Some of the zombies running from the direction the kick traveled in ended up getting crushed to death by the debris or knocked back by the sheer force of the blow.

Saeko uncharacteristically swore under her breath… and yet, she found a smile slowly forming against her will.

Memories of when someone had once tried to assault her filled her mind… along with the memory of her having beaten said attacker half to death, of the thrill she'd felt during those moments.

A similar thrill could now be felt coursing through her. Never before had she considered the possibility of herself dancing so closely with death. In a world such as this, where such life or death scenarios had been limited strictly to muggings and whatnot for her, the chances of ever being able to cut loose, to truly hurt someone physically, had never really been exactly high.

But now, with the whole world seemingly going mad… things were different.

Being on the potential receiving end of such pain and death wasn't exactly something she'd ever foreseen… but it was now beginning to feel kind of nice.

That said…

The tree creature's upper body now spun around, the bark on its 'waist' breaking up and falling off as it now faced her truly once more.

It seemed to glare at her, the empty openings that constituted its eyes filled with hatred and fury.

She glared back, a demented excitement slowly filling her along with a sense of fear. Her excitement aside, she was still very much like anyone else – dying wasn't exactly high on her list of enjoyable things. Oh sure, the _threat_ of it did wonders for her endorphins and all, but death itself? Still scary.

However, she ceased her glaring as it took a lumbering step back. It would seem the creature wasn't dumb; it was trying to put just enough distance to throw a punch.

She couldn't let it do that.

Saeko started dashing forward, her legs straining as she forced herself to her top speed too quickly – only to falter momentarily.

Her eyes had fallen to its waistline, where the bark had broken off following its twisting.

She got a good look at what lay under the bark.

People. Or rather, people's faces, stripped of skin and their eyes. They didn't seem dead now either, for now with the bark that had been covering them gone, the multitude of blinded faces felt the air on their exposed muscle tissue and screamed blood murder. Blood – _fresh blood_ – spewed forth from their open mouths and empty eye sockets.

Their screams created a symphony of agony, seemingly reaching out for miles and miles.

It caused Saeko, against her better judgement, to pause outright. Horror welled up within her at the sight.

Hurting others… yes, she can't deny anymore that such a thing filled her with a certain pleasure, but what she was seeing now went well beyond any of the few but dark fantasies she's had before.

This creature… this creature, despite its rather goofy appearance as a tree monster, was truly something straight from hell itself.

So captivated in horror by this, Saeko was unable to even react as the monstrosity reared back a massive fist and attacked.

By then, it was already too late-.

* * *

-Or so it would've initially seemed.

Takashi wasn't able to see the entirety of what happened, but it seems like after Rei managed to take down a few zombies with well-aimed strikes to their skulls with her weapon, she'd managed to rush forward just in the nick of time to tackle Saeko out of the way of that incoming fist.

The teen was just barely able to see the two girls go rolling along the ground, a sight that filled him with relief, more so when the ground didn't shake like crazy; the damned tree monster had thrown something akin to a left hook rather than punch straight down like it had the first time.

Unfortunately, this also meant none of the zombies he'd been grabbing the attention of went sprawling to the ground.

"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!" he wheezed out between breaths.

It had seemed like such a good idea when he started doing it too. With so many zombies coming their way now thanks to this monster nearby, making a run for it to Saya's place just wasn't going to be possible. Even if it was, leading all these zombies and that monster to Saya's home would've simply rendered the whole journey moot.

Crazy as it was to even think it, their only option was to thin the crowd here somehow. Either by outright kill them – no way that was happening easily, way too damned many – or by leading them away elsewhere and then faking them out.

Naturally, the second method was something he much preferred and it worked, with only a relative handful of zombies bothering to head for Hirano and the others. He could only hope that Hirano, Saya, and Hayashi-sensei would be able to do what they can to stay alive.

As for himself….

"Fucking hell! Why can't these be slow zombies?!"

Seriously, it was just unfair for zombies to be this damned fast and ferocious.

With an entire horde numbering a few dozen so far giving chase, Takashi ran for dear life.

He'd have ran down one of the streets here, but he could see more zombies running this way from there, so he had to stick to one big circle instead.

Even then, this wasn't going to work for much longer.

Realizing this, he had only one option left here.

The homes. He'd have to run inside of them if possible

So that's what he did, starting by making a sudden hard left that nearly sent him tumbling to the ground. Retaining his foot, however, he charged forth through the open gate of a two-story house and reached for the front door, which was slightly ajar.

He didn't miss the puddles of blood on the floor inside but couldn't afford to pay them much mind as he slammed the door shut behind him and made a run up the stairs nearby.

Reaching the second floor, he turned right and headed for the room at the end of the hallway, the door to it being firmly shut.

He slowed just enough to give the handle a try but found it locked. He could hear the howling zombies outside force their way through the gate and bash against the door. While he wasn't sure if one zombie could smash through thick wooden doors on their lonesome, with that many bodies slamming together, he wasn't banking on the door keeping them out for long.

So, he couldn't afford to slow down much either.

He stepped back just enough to charge forward and slam his foot against the door as hard as he could.

Much to his relief, it gave way on the first try.

Much to his horror, someone had been in it and said person wasn't exactly alive anymore.

A boy, one just barely past the age of ten at most, charged at him, part of his neck torn out and bloodied. Whoever this kid had once been, he must have been bitten prior to presumably locking himself in this room.

Takashi froze up for a split second at seeing this screaming and angry zombie child rush him, but just as the kid outright lunged for him, hands forward as if to grab him by the throat, Takashi snapped out of it and reacted.

Knife in hand, the teen lashed out and impaled the entirety of his weapon through the kid's skull in mid-lunge, killing the undead child instantly. With just one hand, Takashi held the now truly deceased child by the stuck knife for half a second, his mind trying to process just what he'd done on pure instinct.

Revulsion and something else welled up within him, but he forced it down just as he heard the front door get bashed down.

He threw the child's body down the stairs, knife still stuck in it, and Takashi entered the formerly sealed off room, which looked to be some kind of office space, presumably for one of the dead parents. It had a window though and that's what really mattered to him.

Bracing himself, Takashi jumped and smashed right through it, tumbling for a second across the roof of the one-story home that had resided next to this one. Getting his footing back in short order, Takashi spared a glance to the street below and saw a lot more zombies than there'd been earlier, the ones that he'd seen further down the street having caught up apparently.

And now many of them seemed to turn their heads in his general direction, his window jump having made a fair bit of noise, it'd seem.

"Seriously, just how can they even hear me anymore?!" he exclaimed in frustration. With how much yelling and screaming they were all doing, they shouldn't have been able to hear the window breaking. Was the hearing of a zombie just that sharp?

He had no time to ponder this for the ones that had rushed into the house now tried crawling their way through the busted window.

Thankfully, because so many tried to go through at once, they ended up getting stuck. Nonetheless, they still tried to force themselves out.

Takashi had no idea if they'd be successful, but he wasn't planning to stick around to see. Plus, just because the ones coming through the house had been halted didn't mean the rest on the streets were. They gave chase despite his positioning relative to theirs, a veritable tidal wave of bodies slamming against the house with such ferocity that he nearly lost his footing from the brief shake.

He preserved his balance though and just in time to keep himself from falling off the side of the roof. Meanwhile, a number of the zombies leapt up as high as they could in an attempt to grab at him. Thankfully, they couldn't reach, but some came pretty close to grabbing onto the roof's edge.

Takashi ran and hopped onto the next roof and paused just for a split second, wanting to see how the others were doing.

Thanks to his efforts, very few zombies were heading for the others, but that tree creature – or so it'd seem given the hellish sight underneath its bark – was still trying to crush Saeko and Rei.

Just as he looked at it, however, the monster swung its leg and missed Rei by barely a foot or so and its momentum caused the thing to slowly spin.

In doing so, it ended up facing his way… and it saw him.

Perhaps because one of its 'prey' was escaping, the monstrosity let loose a howl that was filled with such otherworldly bloodlust that just as Takashi was about to start moving again, he ended up freezing like a deer in headlights. The howl simply chilled him to the bones, hell, down to his very soul and in a way that he couldn't help but feel differed considerably from the others must have felt.

In any case, he'd frozen up and that proved to be a near fatal mistake.

For the monster then reached up for the branches that could've been considered its hair and tore them all off. Blood – human blood – spurted forth from both the 'head' and the branches torn off. Screams of the damned rang out from the branches, echoing throughout the sky as the monster, most definitely not a fucking tree monster, threw the branches with great force towards him.

One after another, the branches flew his way and at speeds that would put all the baseball pitchers in the world to shame in spite of how long and thick each branch was. The mere sight of them incoming jolted Takashi's body into action a whole microsecond before his mind could even process what was going on anymore.

The first branch would've crushed his head had he not ducked in time and he didn't even get a second's rest before the next one nearly slammed into his torso. He had to pretty much throw himself off the roof to avoid it.

Unfortunately for him, the next house was a two-story one and so rather than crash onto a relatively safe roof, he ended up smashing into the side of the house instead. His sole consolation was that he crashed through a window instead of into a wall.

Swearing in shock and pain, but too pumped up with adrenaline to stay down for long, he forced himself up and made a dash out of the bedroom he'd landed in just in the nick of time to avoid the remaining branches that smashed their collective way into the room immediately thereafter.

Out into the hallway he went tumbling and made a beeline down the stairs, no longer trusting roof-hopping to be a safe option if that creature was going to hurl more stuff his way.

He took it down the stairs with a little less speed and noise than before, however, feeling uncertain if he was alone in this particular household. He could still hear the horde of zombies outside, but it didn't seem like they were rushing for this place… yet.

He reached the lower floor and peeked around the corner. Seeing nothing, he allowed himself to step out into the open bravely and let out a groan of pain and relief. If only for a minute at most, he could probably catch his breath.

Just as he groaned, he proceeded to slump against the hall closet with just a bit too much force.

A squeak resonated from within it.

He twitched upon hearing it. That squeak had definitely belonged to a person. Another zombie, merely trapped inside here? No idea, but he wasn't about to give it a chance to smash through the closet door. He had to take the initiative, especially now that he could hear some low growling coming from inside it too.

He had to give his knife up when he killed that child zombie meaning he was currently weaponless. Even then, Takashi wasn't really feeling like rushing to the kitchen or any other room for a weapon, not if it meant exposing his back to whatever's inside.

Right then, bare hands it is. Not like he hadn't gotten into a fight or two before.

With nary a breath, he threw the closet door open and braced himself to attack-.

Only to falter at what he saw.

There, sitting feebly against the back of the empty closet was a scared young girl, holding on desperately to a small dog that growled at him fearfully.

And unlike the last child he'd come into contact with, this girl was very much alive.

He'd found a survivor.

* * *

Alice Maresato could barely bring herself to look up at what had to be her incoming death. Despite only being 7 years old, she knew enough about life that dying can be far from a pleasant thing… and she's seen up close what happened to those that got attacked by those zombies outside.

She should know – her father, wounded by other scared people when he'd tried to find shelter for her and him, had been eaten by those things outside. Some of his blood from when that scared guy had stabbed him, the wound that had effectively left him immobile out in the street, was on her clothes still.

Alice hugged the dog that she found prior to hiding tightly and awaited what would surely be her death, only for it to not come.

"Hey…" said a voice, a voice that came from the one standing in front of her.

One word. Just that one word was all it took for her to know that this one, whoever he was, was still alive, something she confirmed when she hesitantly looked to him.

He looked beat up and a little bloody from some cuts, but he otherwise looked okay. No bite marks like others had sported before… before turning into one of those zombies out there.

Like her mom had when…

The dog growled again, snapping Alice out of her thoughts. The teen standing before her had crouched down and held up his hands.

"Hey now, I'm going to hurt you, alright?" he said softly. He looked ready to continue, but then some roaring and screeching, now all too familiar to Alice, was heard not too far outside.

They were coming.

"…You can't stay here any longer," the teen said. He reached out a hand to her. Despite looking so very nervous, he did so slowly and tenderly, which helped put her and the dog at ease. "I'm sure you're scared, but if we don't move right now…"

He didn't have to continue.

Alice reached out and took his hand.

He helped her and the dog out of the closet and eyed the front door, which was unlocked. It'd been unlocked when Alice had rushed here to hide and in her haste to do so, she'd forgotten to lock it. Not like it would've done much good, in her opinion.

"I'm Takashi," the teen then said as he bent down even more to look her in the eyes. He reached out gently to pat the dog on his head too.

"I-I'm Alice," she sniffled out.

"Alice. That's a good name," he said with a soft smile. "Come on. And don't worry anymore too, I'll keep you safe."

Those words filled her with hope and great fear. Those had more or less been the words her dad had spoken to her when this whole thing started, after mom had become one of those things and had tried to kill them.

He'd kept her safe, true to his word. Even when he'd been stabbed and couldn't move anymore, her dad had told her to run and hide… just before he screamed as loud as he could to draw the zombies at the time towards him instead of her. Because of her dad, she'd been able to find this abandoned and unlocked house to hide in. It was thanks to her dad that she was still alive.

Safe… oh, what a hope-filled word that was.

Seeing the look in this guy's eyes, she could just tell, despite being a kid, that he'd do what he could to keep her safe.

"Okay," she answered back, smiling for what felt like the first time in forever.

As Takashi lifted her and the dog up and settled the two of them on his back, simply the sensation of being held so protectively lifted her spirits.

It also simultaneously scared her.

She didn't want this kind guy to die for her.

She didn't want to see anyone ever die for her ever again.

* * *

Shizuka screamed for what felt like the thousandth time. Hardly the best thing to do when these seemingly blind zombies hunted by sound, but could she really be blamed? With how things were right now, could anyone truly not look upon the world around them and not cry out in terror?

Especially when that monster had ripped off its branches. By God, the blood, the sounds… for what also felt like the thousandth time, Shizuka found herself thinking that the world had transformed into hell itself.

The only thing that could even be remotely considered good in this situation is that not many zombies were heading their way – Komuro-kun had seen to that.

God, she hoped he was okay.

Hirano-kun had taken down most of the zombies that had been coming at them, thanks to a bit of support from Takagi-chan and Kyouko-chan, but now their little group was facing two problems.

The first one is that Hirano-kun was now pretty much out of ammo. Takagi-chan and Kyouko-chan may still have their little makeshift flamethrowers, but the range of each one wasn't exactly much to write home about. Not like the flames in and of themselves wouldn't do much against the undead, who felt no pain and could only die if their brains are damaged or outright destroyed.

As for the second problem… well, it was pretty obvious really.

"Just how are we supposed to get around that?!" Hirano-kun muttered in disbelief as he stared up at the monster, still being kept distracted by Miyamoto-chan and Busujima-chan, both of whom practically danced wildly around the thing's massive feet.

But it didn't take that sharp an eye to realize that the two fighters were tiring out quickly. Sooner or later, they were going to slip up and get smushed to death under that thing's feet or fists.

On that note, they all were tired. Amazing how just several minutes of running around, adrenaline coursing through them, could simply rob them of all energy. More so in her case, since she didn't really do much of anything, making her feel bad.

Nurse or not, surely there had to be something she could do-!

Wait, that's it!

Setting down the first-aid kit, Shizuka began to quickly rummage through it until she found just the few items she needed.

"Hirano-kun!" she called out to him. As soon as he and the others looked her way, she stood up quickly, her breasts bouncing as she hefted the items up. She tried to keep a proud gleam out of her eyes as she showed him the items. "Can this stuff help?!"

Hirano-kun, Takagi-chan, and Kyouko-chan stared at her and the items for a few seconds, rendered silent by how enthusiastic she'd suddenly become.

It kind of made her a little uncomfortable.

But when Hirano-kun grinned devilishly, the discomfort went away and was replaced with a small sense of pride.

Minor it may have been, Shizuka had evidently managed to be of some use.

Now all she had to do was continue to assist however she could.

That said… Hirano-kun's grin was really starting to look scary.

* * *

Rei used her makeshift staff to perform a pole-vaulting action, throwing herself to the side just before the monster could rip out the ground she'd been standing on with its foot.

Sweat poured off her from a mixture of exertion and pure fear, the sight of what lied under the monster's bark as well as the sounds forever burned into her memory.

Huge chunks of asphalt went flying everywhere, smashing through street lamps, houses and other obstacles. Had any of that struck her, she'd have been killed instantly.

That said, just as she dodged, Busujima ran forward and swung at the monster's foot, this time breaking off just a bit of bark, but hardly enough to be truly noteworthy.

Busujima's swing had been accurate and executed with all the strength the girl could muster, but it lacked its usual grace; Busujima was seriously tired now, made more evident by her sloppy leap back when the monster started turning towards her.

Rei felt the same way, panting as she charged forward and jabbed her spear into the back of its knee, which was just low enough for her to reach by jumping. Of course, her strike did nothing, just chipping some more bark.

The only thing her attack just now truly accomplished was making the monster snarl in indignation, clearly fed up with having to deal with her and Busujima running circles around it.

The monster then surprised her by suddenly shuffling back, the back of its right leg slamming right into her at a bit of an odd angle.

Rei nearly let out a scream as pain hit her but found herself unable to do much more than wheeze, the air knocked right out of her. And she could've sworn something inside of her started to creak a bit.

She prayed it was nothing more than that.

Alas, she went flying back with surprising force and hit the street hard, back-first. More pain filled her and this time something about it felt different. She'd taken some serious damage just now.

She skipped like a stone a few times further down the road, damaging her back more and by the time she came to a stop, Rei knew she wasn't going to be getting up anytime soon. Nonetheless, she struggled to push down the pain and stand up anyways.

Because now the monster was heading straight for her.

With just one long stride, it was already within range of her. She could see the 'face' on the bark morph into a demonic sneer as it began to raise its foot up, ready to squash her.

Rei could only follow the raising of its foot with her eyes, just vaguely aware of Busujima rushing to rescue her, not that the swordswoman would make it in time.

"A-A-Ahhhhh!" It was the only sound she could ultimately make in the face of her incoming death. And just as the monster was about to bring its foot down on her, some part of her mind whispered to her treacherously:

At least she'll be able to see Hisashi again on the other side.

She looked down, readying herself for her death-.

-Only for it to not come.

"Incoming!" cried out Hirano.

The next thing Rei knew, something struck the monster and exploded with force equal to a grenade. The monster screamed, genuinely screamed, and stumbled back as intense flames engulfed the entire right side of its body. Then in the span of mere seconds, the flames swiftly spread across the remainder of its massive form.

Rei should know, she looked up just in time to see this occur and stared in disbelief as the monster writhed in pain, its arms flailing about helplessly.

She was snapped from her reverie when Busujima finally reached her, hoisting her up with a good deal of difficulty and making a run well away from the now alit monster.

"You two alright?" Shizuka, the nurse, cried out as her massive breasts bounced from her running. Alongside her came Saya, Hayashi-sensei and Hirano, the girl's breasts bouncing almost as much as Shizuka's.

"W-What just-?" Rei started to stutter out.

"Molotov, plus one of the spray cans," Hirano said swiftly. "I rigged the can to explode on impact and the Molotov bit, well, you can see the results there…"

The monster continued to flail about, howling with such impotent rage now that there was no doubt they'd managed to score a genuine blow against it now.

Just one problem or two…

"I-It's still standing!" Hayashi-sensei exclaimed.

Indeed, the monster, after stumbling and falling onto a nearby car, started to stand up, growling as if fighting through the pain now. And its screams of agony had been much louder than any other sound it's made up until now and the air just seemed to be filled now with the screams of the undead that were now running from other nearby areas to here.

"We gotta move!" Hirano screamed.

"Where?!" Saya growled.

After all, it sounded as if the zombies were really coming from every direction now. And it didn't seem like Takashi was around anymore to draw their attention.

Wait, thinking of that, just where was Takashi?! It's been minutes since she's last seen him!

Despite their worsening predicament, Rei furiously started to look around for any sign of the teen but saw nothing.

"Takashi!" she screamed. "Where are you?!"

"No more screaming, you'll just draw more of them!" Saya said to her as she and the others prepared to run. Where to exactly was anyone's guess.

"But-!"

"Knowing that idiot, he'll be fine!" Rei never would've figured Saya to have that much faith in Takashi. What an odd thing to note too right now. "But we won't be if we don't move elsewhere! Now come on!"

Saya grabbed onto her arm roughly and all but dragged her back. But Saya was shorter than her and nowhere near as fit, so Rei only ended up being budged a few feet before she started to fight Saya's grip fiercely.

"No, I'm not going to just run and let him potentially die!"

Her issues with him aside, she never would wish any harm upon Takashi. Never.

Like hell she'd just up and leave him when he could be-!

Saya smacked her.

Rei was so stunned by this fact that it was the shock rather than the hit itself that promptly took the fight out of her.

Amazingly, Saya smirked a bit. "Ha, to think smacking you worked. No wonder he did that back at the school…" Her expression hardened. "Now come on!"

This time, Rei let herself be dragged and the others began to run in earnest down the street, taking the route they'd initially been taking to Saya's place.

But they didn't get very far before more zombies, teeth gnashing and broken bones and twisted limbs flailing, came running at them from further down the street.

And that wasn't even the worst of it, either.

"Look!" Busujima called out.

With their escape route cut off, all they could do was stop and look at what she pointed out.

Rei, on behalf of them all, wished they hadn't.

The monster.

It was approaching them now, surprisingly silent. The flames from the Molotov have already gone out, impossible as that was to imagine. All the bark had been burned away, exposing what was underneath –

Bodies. So many bodies. Twisted and mangled and broken in ways that Rei's mind couldn't even begin to comprehend. They still seemed to be _alive_ , fresh blood pouring forth slowly from every exposed spot, but especially from the eye sockets, which were otherwise devoid of actual eyeballs.

Their mouths opened in unison, revealing no teeth and gums that looked as if they'd been stabbed with a serrated edge. From their mouths spilled forth voices garbled by a combination of blood and sheer hatred, coming together as a hellish symphony that nearly made Rei's eardrums pop from the malevolence alone.

The area of bodies that made up the creature's face writhed and wriggled for a split second before finally settling down, forming a singular body that functioned as the monstrosity's true face. Multiple mouths have fused together badly to form one large mouth. Same thing goes for the eyes. More bodies, seemingly struggling to break free, could be seen within the empty eye sockets let out shrill howls as if they were the backup choir to the other bodies already screaming.

Rei could only continue to stare at it, her expression completely blank. The sight before her along the sounds had horrified her so much that she somehow circled back around to complete apathy. Her entire body was slack and it was only thanks to Saya's grip on her that she was probably still standing.

Not like Saya's grip was particularly strong anymore. Rei didn't even have to glance to know that the others were in a similar state of mind as her.

The monster now walked forth, no longer in pain yet still continuing to burn with rage, intent on crushing them all beneath its bulging fists.

Meanwhile the undead continued to approach them from behind and from some other streets nearby.

Their cries of ravenous hunger and rage didn't lose out one bit to the gunfire that spontaneously erup-.

Wait, gunfire?

Just as soon as Rei's mind slowly processed this, the gunfire started to draw closer and closer.

The monster's multiple expressions of rage gave way to ones of confusion amongst its many faces. Then, just as it started to look in the direction the gunfire primarily came from, numerous small black objects were shot out of nowhere and landed within its empty sockets.

Rei belatedly realized that those small objects had been grenades.

Said grenades exploded with just as much force as Hirano's makeshift Molotov, but the number of them resulted in the combined explosion being noticeably bigger.

The monster screamed and its hands went to its eye sockets in an attempt to protect itself, only for more grenades to suddenly be shot into its large open mouth. A dozen went in and exploded just a few seconds later.

Next thing Rei knew, what looked like a rocket was fired at the monster's right knee just as it started to stumble back, blowing off most of the knee and spilling blood, muscle tissue, and organs all across the street as the behemoth truly fell back, still alive but clearly wounded now.

"H-Hey, check it out!" Hirano suddenly said.

By the time Rei turned around to see what was going on now, she could already hear Hayashi-sensei letting out a small cry of pure relief while Saya gasped, recognition obvious in the sound.

Rei could see why.

The zombie horde had changed direction midway, heading back where they came from, for further down the road came several large Humvees, the kind modified for use in the military. Being so heavily armored and traveling at high speeds, the trucks ran down the spread out zombie horde with ease, the sounds of bones being shattered and the final throes of zombies being audible from even this distance.

Machine guns mounted atop the vehicles were being put to very good use by men fully decked out in thick black clothing and body armor. More men dressed exactly alike could be seen dashing about on foot, weapons ranging from shotguns to assault rifles to flamethrowers followed along the trucks as best as they could, picking off the straggling zombies that the vehicles missed.

Seeing these unknown people show up like this set Rei so much at ease, filled her with so much relief, that this time she really did fall to her knees. The suddenness of this scrapped said knees and drew blood, but at this point the pain barely registered anymore; such was her joy.

Especially when more men, the ones that had been firing those grenades, appeared from other side streets that connected to this one, rushing past the group in order to continue firing from a respectable distance at the weakening monster.

Rei watched with genuine jubilation as the men emptied their grenade launchers completely on that nightmarish thing, swiftly reducing to nothing more than a mess of meat and blood and organs. The destruction of it had been so complete that not even the house it had fallen up against during its death throes escaped undamaged.

When it seemed like it was safe enough for them, the men swiftly began to approach the group with concern all but evident in their body posture despite their faces being hidden.

Rei had to keep from practically basking in it.

They'd made it.

They were finally safe.

* * *

Takashi never would've imagined today's journey to turn out the way it did. Nor for it to apparently end the way it was ending right now.

After encountering the girl named Alice and her dog(?), he'd gone through the back of the house she'd been hiding in and hopped the fence, ending up in a mercifully empty backstreet.

From there, he'd snuck around the relative few zombies that had been roaming back there that had lost sight of him, figuratively speaking and had slowly made his way further down the street the group had initially been traveling.

And it had been here that, much to his surprise, he ended up being the first of the group to see and hear reinforcements coming, not that he knew this fact at the time.

This had been just a few minutes ago.

Now, here he was, Alice and the dog still being carried on his back as one of the trucks that had been at the rear of the line stopped before him.

Several people got out, all of them wearing thick clothing and body armor, enough to make it impossible to tell their gender.

Of these several, most of them started jogging down the street to assist the others in killing the zombies currently in the area.

Three approached him, however, with the one in the middle of the trio stopping just several feet from him. As for the other two, they gently approached him and goaded him into putting Alice and the dog down. Understandably reluctant, Takashi complied but held onto Alice's hand while the dog remained near the girl's feet protectively.

Before the two people could say or do anything else, the middle one made a little motion with the hand and they backed off immediately.

"I'll take it from here. Go to the others," said a very feminine voice.

The two others nodded and obeyed in pretty much an instant, readying their shouldered weapons as they darted off.

Leaving Takashi and his two carry-ons with the person here.

The person – clearly a woman thanks to that voice – chuckled softly as she then removed the helmet she'd been wearing.

In doing so, she revealed mature yet still youthful facial features, with soft lips and kind eyes. Her hair, seemingly purple in color, was done up in a small bun that she then undid, letting it cascade down her shoulders.

"It certainly seems we came in just the nick of time, yes?" she commented in a lighthearted tone.

Takashi's shoulders, which have been hunched up with an insane amount of tension, now drooped, said tension leaving him entirely. He even smiled lightly.

How could he not, when he recognized who this was? Even if he'd only met her a few times as a kid, he'd be able to recognize her anywhere.

"Thanks for the reinforcements, Takagi-san," he said with all the gratitude he could muster in his fatigued state.

"You're most welcome," replied Yuriko Takagi, otherwise known to Takashi simply as Saya's mom.

* * *

 **Little fun fact about this chapter: the super brief backstory for Alice there was inspired by A Quiet Place, a great horror film that came out a few weeks back or so. Seriously, it's awesome, I recommend it. How is this inspiration for Alice's backstory? Well, don't want to give any spoilers for those of you who want to watch it, but it's how her dad ultimately ended up protecting her… and I'll say nothing more.**

 **Man, what a chapter this was to write. Honestly hadn't expected it to turn out this long, got tempted to end it earlier and finish it up in the next chapter, but decided against it. I felt bad enough stretching the school arc out for the first two chapters, my reasons for that aside. Doing so with this would've just wounded my own pride somehow.**

 **Whelp, in any case, the party's all here now. And for those of you immediately curious about how Yuriko and her squad were able to get to the group and will get back to the house without incident, that particular info will be revealed next chapter… along with a few other surprises. Hope you'll enjoy what's in store.**

 **Now then, with this done and uploaded, I think I'll go take a nap or something – been a rather hectic past two weeks or so for me. I hope that if any of you are going through some particularly rough times in your lives right now, that you're staying strong. And that it's perfectly okay to reach out to others for help when the going gets too rough.**

 **Until time, everyone. Take care!**


	6. Chapter 6

Anyone watched that Upgrade movie? It's pretty damn awesome! I went into the theater expecting a simple – but entertaining – action flick, but the level of nuance in the plot genuinely surprised me. And props to the main actor too for capturing the dissonance between the character's shock at his own actions as Stem controls his body during the fights, that takes some serious skill! Not to mention that ending too… just damn. And to think I knew exactly how it'd all play out initially, but that ending actually took me by surprise. It was two rather typical movie plots combined expertly into one and I loved it!

Oh, also looking forward to July. First and foremost, it'll be my brother's birthday in this upcoming month so that'll be fun. Secondly, another reason I'm looking forward to July is because the next volume of Magical Girl Apocalypse will be out in English and it's one volume I've really been looking forward to since it could potentially help me figure out certain things for future fics.

Also, glad that the last chapter was enjoyable for you guys! Out of curiosity, how was the 'tree' monster? Creepy? Cool? Scary? Or was it dull and narmy? Please let me know!

Chapter 6

"Takashi…" Rei moaned out his name. Her tone was low and husky and full of want.

Takashi didn't know quite what to do in the face of this sight before him, Rei's curvy naked form lying so close to him that her head was near a certain part of his anatomy. The only thing that even remotely passed for a cover for the girl was a thin white towel that did little to hide her firm butt nor the enticing curve of her backside, a wondrous sight even with the bruises and small cuts that littered it here and there. And although she was lying front-down, he couldn't miss the side-boob look that he was getting – Rei's breasts, while certainly not the largest around, were just that large still and nearly making contact with his knees.

"Takashi…!" she called out to him again.

Hot damn, what a situation this was. Alas, all he could do in response to her desire was keep his hands placed on her shoulders.

"Sorry, Rei, just bear with it!"

"Noooo~" Rei all but screamed as Shizuka, giggling almost perversely, now began to apply the medicinal cream ("Made by yours truly~" she proudly proclaimed) to Rei's back.

Rei writhed as the cream was applied, Shizuka's ministrations surely agitating the wounds even as she, as a nurse, did her best to help Rei recover.

Rei nearly hunched her head forward from the pain and Takashi had to bend back awkwardly lest Rei smash her wide-open mouth into his crouch.

The girl let out a childish whine as Shizuka finished applying the cream completely just a few moments later.

"Traitor!" Rei growled at him without any real heat, tears at the corner of her eyes.

Takashi couldn't form a response to that comment, primarily because he didn't have a comeback at all to that and also because he was still doing his best to keep his hormones under control. Even if he was constantly fatigued nowadays, it seemed a certain part of him was still more than capable of getting it up if he wasn't careful.

It took a ridiculous amount of control to keep himself from popping a boner just now as he slid off the bed Rei was lying on, catching just a brief glimpse of her uncovered breasts as Rei turned just enough to glare tiredly at Shizuka.

Shizuka merely giggled only to then adopt a more serious expression just a few seconds later. "Now just rest up and let the cream do its work. You took a nasty crash and tumble and your back paid the price for it, you know."

Rei's glared withered away, but she still mumbled incoherently for a second. "I know." A pause. "How bad is it anyways?"

"Eh…" Shizuka paused to think. "Well, there's a lot of bruising and small cuts, but nothing feels broken or fractured, so that's a relief. I've already treated the cuts as best as I could and the cream just now should help to ease the pain. For now, all you can do is just rest up until you feel the pain fully ebb away. Just don't lie on your back, okay?"

"Fine…" Rei muttered, unable to argue back against the usually ditzy nurse's explanation.

"The cream may have to be applied again later, just so you know," Shizuka continued, smiling almost playfully at how Rei shuddered. "If you want, maybe Komuro-kun here could put it on for you that time~"

Takashi pointedly looked away. "Maybe we should let Rei rest up now, Shizuka," he said.

The nurse agreed and just a moment later, the two of them left Rei in the large room, bidding her a quick goodbye.

Shizuka was then quick to take off, wanting to go check on some of the others here in the mansion.

Yes, that's right, a fucking mansion.

Specifically, Saya's home.

Left to his own devices now, Takashi walked to the nearest window and surveyed what was going on outside.

It's been only a few brief hours since Yuriko Takagi and her men had come to their rescue, the entire group being taken back with them to the Takagi's home here, here being a western styled mansion with a surrounding area of at least several hundred yards all blocked off with walls that were nearly twelve feet high.

Takashi could only shake his head at the ridiculous size of such a place, once more amazed at how well off Saya's family was.

Not that he was complaining about it though. If not for their ridiculous wealth and manpower, he and the others could've been dead by now.

Speaking of which…

"Can't believe how well they handled things," he said to himself.

Considering this zombie apocalypse had only been going for on just two or three days now, it seemed as if the Takagis prepared themselves for it very quickly and without much problem.

Hell, they'd handled that monster pretty easily earlier today. The hellish thing hadn't even had the time to fight back before it was fully killed. Then after the whole group had been rounded up, some of the men had busted out stereos, set them up in the middle of the street and turned them on.

Man, those things had been insanely loud. Takashi would swear his ears were still slightly ringing from the volume. That said, he sure won't deny how well those things worked in covering up the noise the men made when scrambling back to the trucks, not to mention the screeching of the tires and the howling of the engines.

Apparently, if something is loud enough to cover up their own noises, the zombies get confused and disperse from the area, which is what happened as they all hightailed it back here.

And this was clearly a stratagem still being deployed within the surrounding area. Even with the thickness of the window, Takashi could hear music being blasted from the block over in all directions while the men outside worked, shouting to one another from large distances away without a care as they communicated for the sake of keeping each other apprised of their supplies situation.

Really now, all Takashi could do was shake his head.

"It's quite something, isn't it?"

Takashi turned around to see the group's savior approach him from a stairway nearby.

Gone were the thick black clothing and military grade body armor. Now Yuriko Takagi wore a classy dark purple dress that hugged her voluptuous figure very well.

Looks like Saya, certainly no slouch herself in the curves department, still had another growth spurt or two coming her way if her mom was anything to go by.

"Yeah, it sure is," Takashi responded. "Just how'd you set this all up so quickly? I mean, it wasn't until the other day that this entire city went to shit…"

He trailed off and winced, having not meant to speak so casually nor swear like that in front of Yuriko, someone who was clearly quite elegant.

However, to his mild surprise, she merely chuckled at his language, clearly amused. "We had the benefit of our walls to keep the undead at bay, which gave us just enough time to figure out their reliance on sound. Most of our men like to throw block parties every now and then, so we had plenty of stereos and other equipment at our disposal to use as you saw earlier. Granted, we didn't exactly do a few test runs to confirm if the noise would cover our tracks, but there were people in need so we couldn't afford to wait long to see what would happen."

"Well, it definitely worked out for you guys then," Takashi replied. "And I sure as hell won't complain about it having been a gamble. I don't think any of the others would either."

And he wasn't simply referring to his group either – they were not the first survivors the Takagis had rescued thus far, with a few dozen others having been saved from some truly awful situations on the first two days of the apocalypse. Most of these survivors have since then been offered room here in this massive mansion though there were some currently out there helping the Takagis' men with whatever tasks had to be done.

Yuriko smiled. But the smile dropped just a second later and she looked at him intently. "That said, if you don't mind…"

Takashi looked at her in confusion.

"Allow me to properly offer my thanks now." Yuriko, to his surprise, now bowed deeply to him. "It's thanks to you that my daughter is still alive and well. By all means, please help yourself to whatever interests you here in our humble home."

The sudden thanks threw Takashi completely off his game, but he managed to make a recovery. "A-Ah, please don't bow to me," he mumbled out. He felt embarrassed. "It was mainly Saya herself who survived back at the school… and Hirano helped out too. He practically stuck to her like glue during our trip here, even before you showed up, so he's really the one you should be thanking."

Yuriko stood back up. Her smile. "I see. Nonetheless, from what my daughter has told me about your journey up until now, you acted as the vanguard for the group and armed with only a knife at that too. And you led most of the undead away earlier today from them."

"Yeah, that probably hadn't been my smartest move…" he said, scratching the side of his head now. Honestly, it felt to him like he'd just been extremely lucky there. Had zombies come pouring out of the houses there while running or if the ones he'd ran through been filled with more, he'd have been screwed.

"We do what we must in order to survive. In the end, your move worked and I will not criticize an action that contributed to the survival of my daughter and her friends," Yuriko said coolly. "In light of your words, however, may I ask to the whereabouts of Hirano-kun then?"

"Ah, last I checked, he's with some of those guys that went with you to save us. Something about checking out what else they had," Takashi mumbled out, Yuriko's calm yet firm praise of him leaving the teen a little out of it. That said praise was coming from the mother of the hotheaded Saya just made it feel that much more surreal to him.

Considering his strained relationship – damn, that was putting it real liberally – with his own mom, Takashi found himself wondering now if this is what it felt like to actually have a mother figure…

He was roused from his thoughts not even a second later when Yuriko giggled. "I see. My daughter did call him a 'gun geek.' He must be wanting to arm himself as best as he can for any future conflicts."

Takashi now chuckled. "Pretty sure he just wants to fawn over the weapons for now though."

The two of them shared a good-humored laugh at that.

Afterwards, Yuriko bowed to him again. "I'll be going to find him then and offer my thanks. But once again, thank you for your own actions, Komuro-kun. If there's anything you may need, don't hesitate to ask."

"Thanks. It's really appreciated," Takashi said genuinely before the woman nodded and left.

All by himself again, Takashi spared a glance outside the window before taking off as well.

With Rei now resting, it was time he went to check on the group's newest two members.

Heading down the stairs and towards the large dining room – more like a dining hall, but dining room was simply the first of the two terms to come to mind – he saw the young girl he'd rescued eating a large slice of chocolate cake without a care in the world, it seemed.

She was short for her age and as such her feet didn't reach the floor one bit, but all that meant was that she could swing them back and forth quite recklessly. And not that far away from her dangling feet was the dog, chowing down energetically on some high-quality dog food that one of the men had on hand.

Said dog had been given the name of Zeke by Hirano on their drive back here, apparently in honor of the Mitsubishi Zero fighters from the second world war. Despite this name obviously not being the dog's original name, said animal took to it pretty well.

"Ah, Takashi onii-chan!" the girl, Alice, called out to him upon noticing his entrance. She waved to him with all the energy one would expect a child to have.

Such a sight ought to have warmed his heart, but instead it made the teen worry a tad bit. Was Alice really cheering up? Or was it just a mask she was wearing for the time being?

"Hey there, Alice," he said coolly, trying not to let his worry show through. "Chowing down on cake, eh? Man, must be nice being treated like a queen," he joked.

She laughed at his words before cutting off another piece of the ridiculously large cake slice and holding it up on the end of the fork towards him. "Want some?" she asked.

He winced at the mere sight of it. Just how much fucking sugar was in that thing? Even looking it seemed to give him diabetes and Alice's bright expression, façade or not, wasn't helping. "Nah, I'm good. It's your cake, anyways."

The girl looked ready to insist, but relented after having a second thought or two, it seemed.

Sitting in the chair directly across from her, Takashi reached down and patted Zeke on the head when the dog came up to him before the newly adopted pet returned to his own meal.

"So… how are you holding up?" he asked a little awkwardly. He'd have preferred to ask how Alice was doing a bit more subtly, but subtility wasn't exactly his strong suit. No choice but to be straightforward with her. That said, that didn't mean being completely blunt, which is why he left his question at that without mentioning her dad or anything.

Even so, Alice seemed to catch on just a bit to his intentions., her expression falling momentarily between bites.

"I…I'm doing okay, Takashi onii-chan," she said, now sounding rather quiet and dispirited. "…I…I'm just scared something like that will happen again."

That the girl would admit something like that so easily to him went to show how much she already appeared to trust him. It left Takashi feeling more than a little surprised, nearly gaping. But he recovered from this surprise and looked to her firmly, his fatigue once more being set aside.

"Don't be," he said. "I'm not going anywhere. Neither is anyone else. We'll all be here with you." Zeke chose that moment to bark in loud agreement, prompting the teen to chuckle. "Yeah, I know, that includes you too, Zeke."

In response to his words, succinctly and gently put, Alice looked at him in amazement. "You promise?" she asked, her desperation so obvious that it almost physically wounded Takashi. "You really promise, Takashi onii-chan?"

"I do," he said. "Just watch, we'll all pull through this mess together. Got that?

Alice's smile returned. "Got it!"

Takashi's own smile grew at the sight before him, lifting his spirits. He stood up and walked around the table to pat the girl on the head. "Why don't finish up that cake and go catch a nap? I bet you're pretty tired after everything that's been going on. If you want, you can sleep in the same room as Rei too, since she's also resting up right now…. Just be careful not to accidentally touch her back."

"Nn!" Alice made a little sound of agreement and went back to enthusiastically eating her slice of cake. Zeke sped up in his own eating as well to undoubtedly join his new pseudo-owner for said nap.

Laughing a bit, Takashi then walked off, lingering for just a moment to observe the girl from the doorway before leaving.

To think he could cheer her up with just a couple of words… was that merely a testament to Alice's own resiliency or was he just that good a talker? He was pretty sure it wasn't the latter though

Well, whatever the case is, it put him in a better mood seeing Alice doing so well now – helped keep his mind off his own ever-growing fatigue.

"Still though…" he muttered to himself. "Was I ever like that as a kid?" To be so emotional yet resilient just like Alice… it made him think back to his own childhood, suddenly wishing to remember how he'd been like.

Nothing came to mind. Beyond memories of him playing with Saya and Rei and more memorable interactions with his parents, absolutely nothing came to mind.

The complete lack of recall in this regard was enough to put a damper on his lightening mood, his eyes narrowing in confusion whilst his body seemed to move on autopilot.

The more he tried to remember the past, the blurrier most of it began to appear to him. Now he was beginning to feel marginally annoyed. He knew that it was typical for people to not really remember that much from early childhood, but not to this degree.

It was almost as if-.

"Kyaa!"

The sudden cry, one of complete surprise, forced him out of his thoughts harshly enough to nearly make him jump back.

In the midst of his attempted trip down memory lane, he'd ended up bumping into someone.

And not just anyone either.

"Ah, Hayashi-sensei, sorry," he fumbled out as he helped the woman he'd apparently just knocked down back up.

"It's fine, Komuro-kun," she grumbled out, rubbing her butt in the process. "I hadn't been looking where I was going either."

Takashi could only nod hastily before taking a step back and appraising the teacher.

When they all had first arrived here, the group had been offered baths and fresh clothes since their old ones were covered in sweat and dirt and blood in some other cases.

It had primarily been the women of the group that took up these offers, barring Rei who had to get treated for her back injuries. And against his better judgement, Takashi couldn't help but check Hayashi-sensei out.

The woman had apparently been given a red and black dress from Yuriko or something, just judging by the quality of said garment which hugged the teacher's form very well, the upper part of it hugging her breasts just tightly enough to make them look even bigger than they really are, if only by just a little bit. Hayashi-sensei, having showered prior to this evidently, didn't sport any makeup or lipstick anymore, revealing features that were surprisingly more youthful than what everyone had been used to prior to this zombie apocalypse.

The teacher had also tied her hair into a low ponytail, said tail resting just over her right shoulder. She wore no glasses this time, revealing her entrancing eyes to Takashi.

"Uhm, Komuro-kun?" she began.

Realizing he'd been staring a bit too long, Takashi blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry, sensei. Just surprised you're not wearing glasses."

"Ah, my old ones broke on the way here. I, well, tumbled on the way to the trucks and that had been when the glasses fell so…" She motioned to her face. "Until they find me a new pair, I'm afraid I'll be forced to navigate around here a bit more carefully than I would otherwise."

"Is your vision really that bad?"

"Not quite. I'm nearsighted and when moving a bit too quickly, even things up close can become a little blurry." Hayashi-sensei's lips pursed at her own comment. "Not quite a good thing with the city in the current state it's in."

Takashi could only nod reluctantly. "I'm sure they'll give you a new pair soon. Right now, they're just focusing on making sure resources are being properly maintained and used, to quote one of those guys from earlier."

The teacher merely hummed. "I certainly hope so. In any case, I don't think we should have to worry anymore; this place is a veritable fortress, after all." She said that last statement with more than just a hint of amazement.

"Sure is," Takashi said in agreement. "But still, we all can't afford to stay here too long. We'll need to keep on the move."

Hayashi-sensei shot him an indecipherable look, one that made him swiftly feel uncomfortable.

"Uh, something up?"

"…No," the teacher began as she folded her arms under her breasts. "It's just… no, nevermind."

She let out a long sigh. Takashi was seriously starting to think he'd said something wrong.

But just before he could say anything more, Hayashi-sensei began to circle around him. "If you'll excuse me now, Komuro-kun… I need to go eat." She said this with a blush, for her stomach rumbled audibly immediately after speaking. "I'd neglected to do so up until now and I'd rather not put off eating just because of nerves."

"O-Oh right. I'll see you later then, sensei," Takashi said.

"…Kyouko."

"Eh?"

The normally stern teacher paused just long enough in her steps to look back at him with a small smile. "With how the city is right now, I can hardly be called sensei in any official sense." She then lowered her head a bit and blushed lightly, though she tried to cover it up with just a quick cough. "So, I'd think it'd just be best for you and the others to start calling me by my name. T-Though you don't have to force yourself to call my name if you don't want to."

Takashi could only blink. Then laugh. "Sure thing… Kyouko-san."

The woman's blush deepened and she seemed to outright pout – pout! – at him before walking off to get some food.

The teen shook his head in mild disbelief.

To think all of this – their journey here, the zombies, the monster and now all this talking – was occurring within the same exact day. Kind of boggled the mind, really, if only because of how stark a contrast there was between earlier today and now.

Scratching the back of his head, Takashi turned around and decided to head outside, just find a place for him to be fully alone if only for a while.

Had to take a break before anything else out of the ordinary occurred again.

* * *

"That's right, just keep it coming…" muttered one of the men that worked for the Takagis. Currently, he and several others had gone out to search for more survivors following the successful rescuing of their leaders' daughter and her friends, something that greatly lifted morale, not that it had been particularly low.

And son of a gun, it seemed like they were on a role today – found a school bus that had been under siege by a small horde of the undead, though the metal of the large vehicle had proven tough enough to withstand the assault of the ferocious zombies.

The small group of men had quickly gone into action as whoever was driving the bus drove down the large street in an obvious panic, not that said driver could be blamed given the circumstances.

The men had proven extremely efficient nonetheless, mowing down those undead with an almost disgusting ease for the zombies had been far more preoccupied by the bus than by them who'd been as silent as could be in comparison.

Naturally their gunfire was loud, but just like what had happened with the rescue of their young lady, they'd been quick to set up stereos that drowned out the noise before any more zombies could come running their way.

By now, the bus had come to a stop just several yards away from the trucks the men had been driving and was left to idle as the driver parked and exited the vehicle.

The leader of the men walked up to said driver, unperturbed by the sheer volume of the stereos whereas the same couldn't be said for the driver, who was covering his ears whilst grimacing.

But said grimace disappeared once the two of them were close enough to speak, though both had to yell at a decent volume just to be heard.

"You alright? Anyone on board injured?" screamed the leader to the driver.

"N-No, we're fine! Just tired and hungry and more than a little worn out! It's been a hectic journey!" yelled the driver.

The leader smiled. "Then not to worry! Get back on the bus and follow us! We can take you to shelter and get you guys fed and whatever else you may need!"

The driver looked just about ready to cry. "O-Oh! Thank you so much!"

"How many people on board anyways?" the leader asked, wanting as accurate a headcount as possible in order to radio back to base and have the appropriate amount of food and fresh clothes prepared by the time they got back."

"About fifteen of us, including myself!" The driver's eyes watered a bit more than before. "I…I'm a teacher from Fujimi high school! The people on board are all students! Please, don't worry about me, just get my students food and places to rest first!"

The leader smiled, touched. This was clearly someone who put the safety of those under his care first. He could admire that.

"You got it! Get back on the bus and prepare to follow after us! We'll escort you! Oh, I'll have one of my men go along with you just in case anyone does have any injuries! With how crazy things are now, you never if someone's been hurt and is just shrugging it off cause of adrenaline or something!"

The driver nodded most enthusiastically in thanks. The leader called out to one of his men and told him what to do. Naturally, the one he called over agreed without issue, trusting the leader's judgement.

"Pack up and move out! Back to base!" the leader ordered.

In just as efficient a manner as how they'd arrived, the men there gathered up the stereos and placed them atop their vehicles, strapping them down tightly to ensure they didn't fall off due to any serious bumps along the road. This stuff was proving invaluable so far and they'd be damned if they lost it.

As the trucks began to roll out, so too did the bus, the students on board looking happier than they've ever been despite how disheveled and bloody some of them looked.

The man ordered to board the bus and tend to the students was quick to do just that, looking over them and checking for any injuries – bite marks in particular. He and all the others had learned firsthand how the population of the undead grew so quickly.

Happy to see no one sporting any bite marks, the man contented himself with simply doing some very basic first-aid for the students that looked the most roughed up, including a short haired blond girl whose large breasts all but thrust up at him when he treated her. He had to fight down a blush as whatever pain she seemed to be in caused her to somehow stick her chest out that much more.

"There, all done for now!" the man called out after several moments, the bus and the trucks nearly halfway back to the Takagi mansion now.

He approached the driver – a teacher from what his leader told him – and patted him on the shoulder. "You lot have the luck of the devil or something – driving from the school to here with relatively few injuries… you ought to be proud of your skills!" he said with admiration.

The driver could only let out a tired chuckle, clearly overwhelmed by how today was turning out. "We ought to thank you, really. I honestly don't know how much longer we would've lasted on our own."

The man laughed. "You're not giving yourself enough credit, I think." He then pointed to the glasses that the teacher wore. "Oh, those glasses are looking pretty busted. We can get you a new pair, if you really need it. Unless it's just to look cool or something, then I'm afraid you'd have to do without them; other people may actually need them, ha ha!"

The teacher laughed along with them. "Well, I can manage well enough without them, but they are needed, I'm afraid. It's a genuine miracle I haven't crashed yet."

The man smiled at the teacher's good humor. "What's your name, anyways? Would be wrong to keep working around that."

The teacher's smile now looked positively serpentine.

"Koichi Shido," he stated. "A pleasure to meet you."

* * *

It was with a huff that Saya went in search of the others. And much to her expectations and annoyance, this proved to be a noticeably more difficult task than it ought to be.

Alas, she persevered. They all needed to have a little meeting.

For although they were now safe behind the walls of her home, decisions had to be made now about what came next lest they all get too complacent here and put things off.

Such as searching for the families of Takashi and Rei, for example. Surely, the two teens in question would want to continue with such a goal, but what about the rest of them? Would it be right for any of them to go with the two now that they were safe here? Should they even go along? What if any of them now had other goals in mind?

These were questions that had to be asked and quickly as far as Saya was concerned. However happy she may be to be reunited with her mom and later her father once more, she couldn't afford to let her own happiness at being safe get in the way of things. In fact, it was precisely because she was happy to be home and around people she knows that she was so motivated to do this now.

It was all for the sake of the others, to ensure that they too can find some measure of happiness in the wake of this apocalypse.

But again, it really must be said that this was easier said than done.

Rei was now sleeping while her back recovered with Alice sleeping in the same room there too. The nurse, Shizuka, was blissfully asleep as well in another room that she was to share with Hayashi-sensei, who was out and about somewhere on her property. The gun geek was outside, checking out what weapons the guys who worked for her parents had and as for Takashi, he was also MIA as of now.

Saya grumbled. Things never could be easy, it seemed.

But she supposed that was fine for now. As urgent as she liked to think this self-imposed task was, she also supposed that it could wait until tomorrow, after they've all actually taken time to recuperate up until that point. But no later than tomorrow.

Thankfully, there was at least one member of the group that she could speak to as of now, who she spotted standing near the artificial pond that had long since been a part of her family's property.

"Busujima!" Saya called out to the older teen just as she walked outside and neared said pond.

Saeko Busujima, perhaps the only truly competent fighter of their little group, Takashi and Rei notwithstanding.

The swordswoman, upon hearing her name being called, turned slightly in her direction, her expression unreadable.

Saya stomped her way towards, somewhat out of breath. All that running earlier had taken quite a bit out of her. She'd never exactly been what one would call athletic and with the adrenaline having ceased coursing through her, all the walking around she's done here at home only consumed what little stamina she'd recovered.

"Takagi-san," Busujima said politely. She nodded. "Is something up?"

Saya paused as she finally got near and schooled her own expression. "We need to talk. Got a minute?" she asked as she adjusted her glasses, thankful to be home in order to have gotten this extra pair of hers.

Busujima nodded and scooted over, allowing Saya to stand in the shade that was the large tree overlooking the pond provided.

Saya tried not to flinch as she moved closer, the monster earlier having made her feel a little jumpy now around trees.

Before she got down to business, Saya took a brief second to look Busujima over. "I see my mama provided you with the appropriate clothing," she commented dryly but not harshly.

Busujima had done away with her dirtied and torn school uniform and after a bath had been provided a high quality dark blue kimono, intricate flower patterns embedded in the fabric. Combined with her sharp yet demure features and long hair, Saya found herself thinking that the older teen looked very much like a traditional beauty.

Busujima merely smiled. "She did indeed. Thanks. But surely you didn't come to me to talk about that."

Saya let out a 'humph' at that. "Let me just be blunt then – what's your plan from here on out?"

"Plan?" Busujima muttered.

"Mhm. Back at Hayashi-sensei's place, you said you weren't too interested in heading back to your home since your father would be out helping others. Do your thoughts on that remain the same or do you wish to go home and see if he's returned?" Saya paused as she turned to look at the koi swimming peacefully in the pond, a sight that greatly contrasted with the chaos that was going on outside these walls. "The whole point of the group was to get here to my place and eventually head to Takashi's and Rei's homes to see if their parents are there. But now that we're here and considering what happened along the way, would you still consider taking part in their efforts?"

Busujima hummed at that. "You're wondering if our little group will remain together or not." It wasn't a question, merely a statement. "…What's your opinion about this? Now that you're back home and reunited with your mother – and presumably your father is still alive too somewhere – do you feel obligated to help them check on their families?"

The very core of that question that Saya had initially asked Busujima was now getting thrown back at her… and she found herself unable to immediately answer. "…Obligated is not the word I'd use," she eventually began, sighing. "I may act bitchy with them, especially Takashi, but they are friends of mine. I certainly wouldn't mind helping them if possible, but not if it means somehow putting my own family in danger."

That was really all she could say on the matter. Despite the state of her relationships with the two other teens, they did take up vanguard positions for the group and had contributed to lasting long enough for her mama and servants to come rescue them. She was in their debt but repaying it wouldn't exactly be all that easy to do.

"Well, I've said my piece on the matter… so now it's time for you to actually answer that same question," Saya stated, folding her arms under her breasts.

Busujima bit her lip. "I honestly can't say. Even I find the safety behind these walls very appealing, to simply leave the group would feel… wrong. I may have only known you lot for a very short while, but it just would feel wrong to stay behind."

"Even if, say, Alice and Shizuka and Hayashi-sensei likely stay here too? Along with Kohta?" Saya pointed out.

Busujima could only grimace, which was answer enough for Saya, really.

The pinkette could only sigh yet again. "And this is why it's necessary," she muttered.

"What is?" Busujima asked, having overheard her.

"A meeting," Saya replied. "A meeting with all of us about this. We decided as a group what to do back at the penthouse suite and now we need to do so again to see if we'll stay together or not."

At those words, Busujima could only nod. "Agreed. But when exactly?"

"I'd have preferred to do it now, just to get it over with…" Saya mumbled, pushing up her glasses. "But with us all scattered around my family property, resting up in our own ways, that probably won't happen. No choice but to put it off until tomorrow, I guess. In fact, I'd say it'd be best to have our little meeting right after breakfast. Make sure to keep that in mind."

"I will."

"Good. And if you see any of the others before I do, let them know," Saya said. "If you don't, fine, I'll just let them know as we eat tomorrow."

Not bothering to see if Busujima nodded in agreement with her request/demand, Saya turned around and left with a huff.

Her talk with Busujima may have been brief but proved enlightening all the same.

Unless something crazy happens, Saya could easily foresee their group splitting up.

Would that be a bad thing, however?

On that particular note, she had no idea… and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

* * *

Kyouko had decided to head out to the front area of the Takagi estate. Although much calmer and relaxed than before, the events of today still left her somewhat jittery, too much so. Resting up like most of the others were doing would be impossible for now, so she decided to try and burn out what little excess energy she had.

And what better way to do that than by helping out front? At here she'd be able to actually do something, unlike what had been the case during her time with Shizuka and the students thus far.

Although still without glasses for the time being, she could manage, helping to pass out food and other things to survivors found by Takagi-san's men at random intervals throughout the day. It really left her amazed in a number of ways, being a part of this.

Frist and foremost, simply seeing just how many people have survived up until now. And secondly, getting to see just how efficient the men and women that worked for the Takagis were at all this.

Seriously, just what exactly does Takagi-san's family do for a living to be this capable at search and rescue? Not to mention the military grade resources they have….

Ah, but perhaps she was being ungrateful somehow. Despite how suspicious all this stuff would've been outside of this zombie apocalypse, the people here have been polite and most generous and courageous given they likely had to fight their way through God knows how many of the undead to rescue many of these survivors.

Yes, questioning this could wait until a much later time. Who knows, maybe Takagi-san or her mother will explain it all to her and the others later, when things have calmed down for the day.

"Hmm?"

Kyouko suddenly perked up when the gates opened yet again roughly fifteen minutes later. In came a few of the trucks that have now become a familiar sight to her along with a school bus of all things.

One that she recognized as being used often by Fujimi high school.

She couldn't help but gasp at the sight. Had more students survived somehow? Or maybe some of her fellow staff members too?

Eager to answer these two questions, she was among those that rushed forward to greet the bus as it pulled to a stop, a few more trucks pulling in behind it to act as a rear guard, even though the gates were closed and locked as soon as they made it through.

The bus doors opened and just a bit more than a dozen students filed out, relief obvious on their faces.

Kyouko, although hardly one to judge given the circumstances, still couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow upon recognizing some of the faces amongst the students.

Miku Yuuki, a second-year student with a lot of unsavory rumors about her regarding rampant promiscuity. Kyouko had no idea if such rumors were true, but the girl was a known slacker, prone to whining and spreading nasty gossip about other girls that threatened her so-called title of 'sexiest student at Fujimi high.'

And trailing not far behind her was Tsunoda, another second-year student known for being a genuine delinquent, having gotten into numerous fist fights with students from not just Fujimi high school but also other schools, all fights having been initiated by him. There's even been some talk of him having apparently committed theft and destruction of public property a year or two back, but Kyouko never took a look at the records since he'd never been in one of her classes.

There was dried blood in his dyed blond hair too. Kyouko didn't know if it was from a zombie… or from someone living.

She tried not to shiver at the thought.

Having fallen behind the others that rushed forward to aid the students, Kyouko ended up slowing down even more as she saw who exited the bus last, its driver.

"Shido…" she muttered.

Koiichi Shido.

The mere sight of him filled her with an odd sense of dread.

Although the number of times they've ever spoken could be counted on both hands, Kyouko liked to think she had a solid impression of him and it wasn't exactly favorable.

He appeared well-mannered and even charming, but it never really endeared him to her. No, it'd be better to say that it unnerved her more than anything. Talking to him felt more like talking to a snake, waiting to shed its fake skin and reveal its true colors.

She's seen the way he eyes some people too, whenever he thought no one would notice. It had been as if he were a god looking down on lesser beings, as if people were little more than playthings to manipulate and abuse.

She's heard through the grapevine that he and Miyamoto-san shared a past of some sort… but she didn't know the exact details either. That said, she did know that something happened between the two of them. It was also why Miyamoto-san ended up repeating a year even though her grades had been more than good enough to pass.

Call it petty of her, but she was suddenly feeling a little upset to see him look so alive and well.

Especially when he seemed to spot her.

She nearly recoiled when he smiled at her in fake joy. "Oh! Hayashi-sensei, is that you?!"

She could only stand there, unable to run now that some of the students still milling about there waiting to get looked over turned her way in surprise and interest. A number of them seemed to recognize her too.

"Oh, thanks heavens…! And here I thought I was the only teacher to get out alive!" Shido said as he approached her rapidly. "Tell me, were you the only one to make it out too?"

"Glad to see you too, Shido-sensei," she mumbled out tiredly, hoping said sense of fatigue would mask her dislike of him. "I managed to escape the school with the help of several others. We tried to rescue anyone else, but those things…"

She intentionally trailed off, hoping to play things off as her being tired still.

It seemed to work, for Shido nodded, looking genuinely surprised by her words. "I see. These others you mentioned… are they still alive? Are they here too?"

"Yes," she replied. God, she hoped she didn't sound too reluctant there. "They've already been taken inside to rest up." And if she had the power to ensure it, she'd keep the others in there until she could inform them of Shido's presence somehow. Especially Miyamoto-san.

Shido faked relief at her words, though everyone else around him seemed to be fooled by his little show. But she could tell by the light in his eyes. It was still the same cold and unsettling light it's always been. "O-Oh, that's wonderful news…! If possible, I'd like to see them for myself, just to further alleviate my worries. Especially if they're students. It's a teacher's duty, after all, to ensure the students are okay!"

Kyouko's smile couldn't have possibly been more forced. "Perhaps you could check on them in the morning, then. It's been a long journey for us all and especially them, so they likely won't wake up until then."

"I see, I see. In that case…" It was very slight and lasted only for a second, but his mask slipped. Kyouko nearly broke into a cold sweat at the calculating and devilish look in his eyes. By God, Shido almost seemed to be _enjoying_ this entire situation!

"I'll look forward to meeting them then," he finally finished with a smile.

It didn't reach his eyes one bit.

* * *

Hours go by without issue. Night comes and so does the sound of silence along with it. For the most part, that is. Several small groups of men had gone out to set up stereos out in the surrounding neighborhoods, blaring pure noise to cover up the waning sounds of the others still working in the front section of the Takagi's estate.

Takashi once again found himself impressed by this.

Seems like if it's just pure noise, zombies won't come running to investigate. He had to wonder why that was the case – was it somehow irritating to the zombies? Or did certain noises simply invoke certain responses?

Takashi doubted he'd ever know the answer to these questions, but he wasn't going to complain. It worked and that was all that mattered as long as the zombies didn't wise up to this.

"Yeah, the last thing we need are smart zombies," he murmured to himself as he traversed the massive backyard of the Takagi estate.

He sure had gotten lost in his own thoughts this time. So much so that it'd probably be more appropriate to say he simply shut down completely for a while, for he couldn't even remember what, if anything, he'd been thinking about since coming outside.

Well, that aside, just what exactly to do tomorrow? Should the group simply stick around here for another day or two before moving on? Or should they just move out as soon as they get something to eat and properly prepare themselves for their next outing?

…Come to think of it, why does he feel so sure they're all going to be heading out together again? After all, Saya was home again now, reunited with her mom and soon her dad too whenever the guy comes back from wherever he's at still. Hirano would most likely stay with Saya and the girl, Alice, will definitely want to remain here where it's safe and filled with living people. Zeke would stay with her naturally and it wouldn't surprise him either if Shizuka or Hayashi-sensei – no, Kyouko, he corrected himself – wished to stay behind as well since they could help to contribute here.

The only one who'd be willing to venture out with him would be Rei since she did want to find her parents, but given her back injuries, just how long would it be before she could head out there without extra risk to herself?

And what about Saeko? His senpai didn't seem the type to remain idle in a place like this for long, but she didn't really have a solid reason for wanting to come along with him and Rei either.

And yet… despite these reasons and the logic behind it, he just felt it was all pointless – they'd all be heading out together again.

But why did he feel this way?

He grumbled tiredly. Being out here by himself had allowed his perpetual fatigue to return now and it was making it hard for him to truly think. Contemplating his own feelings, which he's always had trouble discerning anyways, wasn't exactly going to be easy like this.

Best to head inside then. It was getting chilly out here and he'd forgotten his school jacket inside too.

He started walking the great distance between his current spot and the mansion leisurely but briskly, not wanting to get any colder out here.

Then, before he even knew he was doing it, his pace picked up significantly until he was jogging then outright running.

The very same mild sensation he'd gotten the other night at the suite had returned just now, only much stronger than before.

Something was here.

Something was here.

Somethingwasheresomethingwasheresomethingwasheredangerdangerdangerdanger-!

Takashi ran into the mansion, bobbing and weaving in between the few workers that milled around on the first floor of the estate before dashing up the stairs to the second floor, where pretty much all the survivors that have been picked up were staying at.

He ran towards the very end of the hall and made a sharp right, leading down to another small hallway that consisted of nothing but doors to guestrooms. From what he's learned thus far, these rooms had yet to be filled completely, for plenty of survivors preferred to sleep in the same rooms as one another – strength and security in numbers, Takashi supposed, if only in feeling rather than actuality. Because of this, the rooms here were still empty for the most part…

Save for one, one that, stereotypically or not, was located at the very end of this corridor.

Takashi ceased to run once he got within several yards of it and proceeded to walk towards it slowly as the sensation ebbed away whilst dread took its place.

Soon standing in front of the door, he hesitantly knocked a few times.

Much to his own unfortunate expectations, his knocks received no replies. So, he then tried the doorknob and found it locked.

By all rights, he should've just backed away. Should've just gone to his temporary room and just relaxed for the night.

But he couldn't bring himself to do so and instead ended up forcing the door open with two solid shoulder rams against it.

What he saw immediately chilled him to the bone.

Blood and gore were smeared across the floor and walls, particularly the bed area, just barely obscuring the pile of clothes and undergarments there by the foot of the bed.

Atop said bed were what remained of two girls, naked and with their bodies mangled and broken along every joint, their stomachs ripped open and their faces little more than pounded meat at this point.

The clothes on the floor were school uniforms, specifically ones from Fujimi high, but what little recognizable features there were about the bodies seemed to look a bit more aged than what should be expected from what had to be teenaged girls, breasts withered and sagging and the skin looking paled and wrinkled. Even the bones looked unnaturally brittle to the touch.

The sight of all this chilled Takashi to the very core and he unconsciously stumbled back until he fell on his ass out in the hallway, his eyes never once leaving the horrific sight before him.

It horrified him in a way that nothing else had up until now.

The zombies, that monster that had terrorized the school before giving chase after them and later that 'tree' monster… all these things had been extremely hostile and aggressive, having killed who knows how many people. But their actions had always been done in an animalistic fashion, powered purely by instinct and rage and sheer bloodlust.

But the results of the violence he was seeing here was different. The rage was still present, but it was more of a cold rage rather than a burning hot one. Even with all the gore here, whatever had inflicted the damage had done so methodically – the oddness of the withered remains aside, the rips and breaks along the body were too smooth or streamlined to have been done hastily.

That meant that whoever or whatever did this was intelligent to some extent, for whatever remained visible of the girls' faces looked to be permanently frozen in pure fear and agony to have been inflicted quickly or randomly.

Takashi shuddered at the very thought.

Whatever had done this had done so under the noses of everyone here… and it might still be nearby.

With this thought crossing his mind, he did the only thing sensible at this point -.

He got up and ran for help. Others needed to know, right the fuck now.

* * *

The one responsible for this let out a sound that may have been a pleased growl in a more human tongue, but since that was something it lacked, the sound was more akin to dentist's drill instead.

This monster was the very same one that had watched the group from afar, ever since it left that apartment place the other day.

True to its own word, it had done its very best to keep up with the group during the night, when it could actually manifest. Not that the group's travels during the daytime had inconvenienced it that much anyways – it may not be able to physically exist during the day, but it still did exist as a sort of abstract existence, though not one that could freely move as it pleased in such a state. Even then, it could follow along, albeit at drastically reduced speeds.

And what a treasure this group ultimately turned out to be.

It had sensed their emotions during the scuffle with its kin during the day, prior to said kin being slain by those military looking people. The emotions may not be much different from others it's sensed and devoured, but it'd been the little hidden depths here and there that had caused its thirst for them to grow.

And just now, during this still young night, it had seriously considered satiating itself with them, but had ultimately held back. This group had yet to fully ripen. Despair had yet to fully consume them. Only when it did will they be worth its time.

However, the same could not be said of the plentiful others it had found here, especially the ones that had come in on that school bus earlier. It knew not what exactly the young ones on that bus had gone through since the monster and its kin had manifested thanks to The Demon, but despair had enveloped them to the point where they'd broken completely, giving into hedonism in order to keep on going.

Granted, such a transition had been likely due to the sole adult of that particular group – the glasses wearing man had that kind of sinister air about him, this the monster could tell with a glance – but it didn't matter much to it. Despair was despair and it made them taste all the more delicious.

Its mood had initially soured when it first arrived at this place, for it initially thought it'd be unable to enter this massive home, but then on a whim it had tried anyways… and succeeded, much to its delight.

It would seem that if homes were left open, figuratively or literally, to others then it could indeed enter them. And as soon as it had entered, the monster had wasted no time in locating two from that school bus group to appease its hunger for the time being.

It had gotten most lucky – the two girls had wandered into that isolated room for the sake of indulging in their carnal desires away from wandering eyes and ears and had left themselves entirely at its mercy. Oh, the fun it had had with breaking their bodies before devouring their very emotions and souls. Some of their organs had merely been a nice little bonus, a filling dessert to finish up its meal.

But still, it hungered for more. It'd been tempted to make a meal out of another two or three, but then that boy from its ripening group had seemingly sensed it and came running. Although the boy hardly posed a threat, it'd much prefer to retain its advantage of surprise.

Still, how odd. The boy had seemingly detected it before and had done so again just minutes ago. Interesting, though somewhat disconcerting.

But again, hardly something worth truly being concerned about.

For now, however, it shall retreat. Its hunger may not be fully appeased just yet, but it was filled just enough to keep it from acting on its instincts anymore for the time being.

As it retreated and melded into the darkness of night, the monster's jackal-like head twisted briefly, forming a grin with a mouth that hadn't been there before.

It was most eager to see what the following night would bring it.

* * *

 **Despite how it ended, consider this chapter more of a transitional one than anything else. Much like was the case in the manga, the first portion of the time spent at the Takagi home is more of an R and R thing than anything else. And the ending aside, that won't change too much for the most part.**

 **That said, with both this monster and Shido around, you can expect a new kind of conflict to be erupting soon.**

 **Heh, that now said, there's still plenty more craziness ahead that'll make this look dull in comparison. If anything, what'll happen next will be something akin to a preview of what awaits the characters and you guys. Hope that unlike the characters, you will enjoy what's up next!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	7. Chapter 7

Devil. May. Fucking. Cry. 5!

After a decade of official silence about a sequel, we finally get a trailer for DMC5! To that, all I can say is this: Fuck yes!

The new aesthetic of the series thanks to the RE Engine they're using (same one used to make Resident Evil 7) really took me off guard at first, made me think it was a different game until I saw Nero and the Devil May Cry sign on the side of the van. I will admit that Nero's new look along with Dante's did catch me off guard and I've seen plenty of comments on Youtube already hating on it, but personally I'm cool with it and can even see the reasons behind it from characters' perspective.

In Nero's case, as laidback as he's shown to be, is still more serious about things than Dante. Wouldn't surprise me if he got his hair cut if it started to really get in his way or something. The darker clothes he has could be a sign of him trying to blend in a bit more with the general populace. Oh, and that new Devil Breaker of his? That is awesome, like seriously just crazy awesome. That it can function like the Devil Bringer but with a few more tricks to it is just amazing for a cybernetic, even if Nero's innate power is the one powering it.

As for Dante, his new look as far as his face goes seems like a cross between his DMC4 self and DMC2 design, especially the length and general style of his hair now. Makes me wonder just where exactly DMC5 falls in the timeline between 4 and 2. Well, regardless of the answer, I'm just happy to have him back.

I actually enjoyed the DmC: Devil May Cry game but having the original Dante back along with Nero is just awesome beyond belief.

That said, I do admit too that his new beard is a little weird. Combined with his smile and messy hair, he looks vaguely like Jeff Bridges to me, ha ha! Hope he gets rid of the beard over the course of the game; it does make him look older than he really is, but once he shaves it off and trims his hair a bit, he'll look almost exactly like his DMC2 self – a little gaunt, but still youthful.

Heh, well my fanboying aside, glad the last chapter was enjoyed by you guys. And to **TheDarkHollow** , glad you found the previous tree monster cool/scary! Means I'm doing a decent job at making these monsters actually look/sound intimidating. Hope future monsters will live up to expectations!

Now then, onto the chapter!

Chapter 7

Takashi could only watch as the small crew of men got to work cordoning off the area without trying to make it seem too obvious.

Fatigue was hitting him hard now, the shock of what he saw adding so much to what he already felt that his eyes were feeling seriously droopy now. It was only through sheer willpower that he hadn't simply fallen back, asleep to the world. Not like he'd stay asleep for long anyways, but he'd rather avoid the indignity of collapsing.

Of course, it helped that he was now being guided to an entirely different room now, away from that room.

Taken inside the room by one of the men, Takashi saw the room to be a study room… of some kind. There were plenty of books to indicate it was a study room, but there were also what he assumed were trophies and awards and other antiques that made him think of a trophy room too. Felt weird to see such a combination here, but he opted to focus on the two people that had already been waiting inside for him.

He recognized Yuriko right off the bat, the elegant woman sitting in the seat behind the massive desk there. As fairly tall as the woman was, she looked positively tiny behind the desk like that.

But then, Takashi assumed that was because the desk was suited for the man standing by the sole window of the room nearby.

He was tall, easily the tallest person Takashi has ever met and very well built even under the black uniform he wore. With sharp and stern facial features and piercing eyes, he turned and eyed Takashi as if meaning to pierce his soul.

To his own credit, Takashi took the stare without so much as flinching and merely returned it, albeit respectfully before nodding to the man.

Again, he's really only seen the guy once back when he was a kid, but he couldn't not recognize him.

Souichirou Takagi, Saya's father.

"Takagi-san," he said respectfully to the man.

Souichirou merely nodded. "Take a seat."

Takashi complied and turned to face him still. "When did you get back?" he couldn't help but ask, having been unaware of the man returning.

"Just a while ago," Souichirou answered. "I'd gone personally to check on a few comrades of mine located well across the city. Much like my wife and I, they possess a significant amount of resources. I'd gone to not only check on their health but to also negotiate with them into providing further aid to survivors."

Takashi nodded. "Makes sense…" He trailed off and sighed, tired beyond words.

"What happened?" the man of the house then asked of him. "When I returned, I hadn't been expecting to see some of my men cleaning up a murder scene before the sun has even risen."

Takashi flinched in amazement. Had it really already been that long? The sun may not be rising just yet, seriously, had the night gone by that fast?

His thoughts aside, he proceeded to explain what had gone on to both of Saya's parents. Of how he felt something off and came running to see, coming across what had remained of those two girls. Of how afterwards he dashed off and found some of the guys that had initially been working lounging around on the first floor, upon which they'd swiftly rounded up a few more guys to go see the scene for themselves.

"…After that, they started going around getting stuff to clean up the mess a bit and section off that whole area from the rest of the mansion," Takashi finished up. "That way when the others start to wake up, they won't be panicking."

Souichirou nodded and folded his arms across his muscular chest. "I see. You did the right thing by going to our men rather than to other survivors – a panic would've only led to chaos and injury."

"Yeah, sounds like the last thing we need here since this is pretty much the only safe haven we've got for now," Takashi mumbled, unable to find it in himself to speak more formally. Yuriko may have found his casual manner of talk amusing, but he wasn't sure if the same could be said of Souichirou here. Again, he was just too drained to care much for that right now.

"Indeed." He seemed to be in luck – the guy didn't mind at all, assuming he wasn't simply focusing that much on this current issue. "That said, this is still cause for alarm. That someone or something was able to get in here and kill those two girls…"

Souichirou looked to his wife, who seemed to know exactly what he wanted to say.

"I've already spoken with the men on watch. They say they saw nothing out of the ordinary at all – the undead have yet to approach the streets outside thanks to the decoys and stereos we've been using and there has yet to be a sign of any of those creatures approaching either."

Ah, so that's why he hadn't seen the matriarch of the Takagis around until now, Takashi surmised. Then again, he had sort of just been standing around in a daze, so who knows anymore, right?

Souichirou nodded grimly. "Which is to say, we've now truly come across something out of the ordinary."

At that, Takashi quirked an eyebrow. "Uh, sir, I'm pretty sure this whole zombie apocalypse thing is out of the ordinary. Monsters included."

The man's mouth twitched upwards and Yuriko chuckled. "True. But what we meant is that up until now, we've been dealing with things that we could see and physically handle like anything else, even if some of the monsters take up a truly ridiculous amount of ammunition and resources to put down."

"…So," Takashi said after a minute, trying to read in between the lines here. "You mean something like… like what, a ghost-like creature now? Something intangible?"

Souichirou nodded. "Of a sort, yes. A ridiculous thing of me to say, I know, but with the entire world falling prey to this calamity, an open mind is needed. Trains of thought that had never been pursued must now be explored. The illogical and unexplained must now be considered in lieu of what we all had once considered to be natural and common." He paused and let out a sigh. "I can readily admit I had never been a strong believer in the supernatural, but as leader of all these fine men and women, I cannot afford to let my own preconceived notions cloud my judgement nor my actions. If the people of this country are to survive and if I am to help make this happen, then I must be willing to think outside the box. The same applies for everyone else here."

Souichirou looked Takashi in the eyes as he said that last statement and Takashi momentarily felt his fatigue disappearing as shock overtook him.

The man's speech just now resonated with him in ways he couldn't quite describe at all. The one thing he became sure of in this moment, however, is that Saya's dad truly was someone who could be trusted.

Leaning forward in his chair, Takashi eyed the married couple. "Can I bring something up?"

Both nodded.

"The sensation I got before the murders happened… it's one I felt the other night, when the others and I had been staying at our sensei's suite. I think whatever triggered this sensation in me is the same one that got those two girls," Takashi explained.

The mood in the room, already rather grim, got much tenser. "Truly?" Yuriko asked. "…Do the others know of this? Have you told them?"

Takashi shook his head. "They don't. Despite what led up to us being at the penthouse suit… I couldn't help but feel instinctively that they were all trying to process what was going on in the world. Telling them would've just made them snort in disbelief or something… that was the sort of feeling I had at the time. Though after the 'tree' monster fight just yesterday, I'm pretty sure they'd believe just about anything now."

Yuriko hummed at that. Souichirou grumbled in thought.

Takashi sat there and patiently waited for a response.

"So, we three are the only ones aware of this, right now," Souichirou eventually said. He eyed Takashi thoughtfully. "You say both times, you felt a sensation?"

"Yeah."

"So, you can somehow sense this thing then… interesting. Any way of pinpointing how far away it is from you?"

"No. I just seem to know it's in the area…" Takashi tried not to sound frustrated with himself at that.

Souichirou placed a hand on his shoulder. "No self-pity, boy," he said with a surprising gentleness. "You sensed something wrong and acted. That the scene was so fresh when you got to it means you must've only missed the creature by mere minutes at most… and even if you had caught it in the act, would you really have been able to do anything to it?"

Takashi opened his mouth, an automatic 'yes' on the tip of his tongue, only to catch himself. He had no idea if he'd have been able to do anything at all against whatever caused those two girls' deaths. If it had been of a comparable strength level to one of the zombies, then probably yeah, he could've killed or restrained it. But if not… he could've simply been added to the body count.

Souichirou seemed to realize the direction his thoughts were going in and gave his shoulder a firm squeeze. "We know now of this thing's existence. That counts for far more than you know. Be proud, you could've just prevented a killing spree."

"I sure hope so," Takashi responded, taking comfort in the man's words, but still reeling away, tired. "I know life isn't meant to go everyone's way or anything, but it'd be nice to just catch a break for a while."

"We certainly know the feeling. In any case, I believe this will do for now," Souichirou said. "Go and rest, boy. You need it."

Takashi smiled wanly. "I'll try, but no promises. Sleep isn't something I get a lot of nowadays."

He stood up and started to take his leave, but not before nodding appreciatively to both Takagis. However, just before he fully exited the room, Yuriko called out to him.

"Komuro-kun," she began. "Just one last question – did you recognize either of the two girls?"

Takashi looked back and shrugged. "Not really. But one of them was named Hanuichi or something like that."

"I see. Thank you."

And with that, Takashi left. Not to try and rest – he's pretty much given up on sleep now – but rather to go eat. Amazingly enough, the events of yesterday and last night have really worked up an appetite for him.

Time to go satiate it, if possible.

* * *

Shizuka woke up surprisingly early, just as the sun was rising. She let out a yawn as she did so and stretched, a motion that made her breasts nearly burst free of the tank-top she'd been given as sleepwear.

Despite the events of yesterday, she'd slept pretty well, much to her own surprise, though that could've been because of how tired she felt. She hoped the others could say the same.

Now, that said… "Hungry," she whined cutely as her stomach proceeded to growl.

Getting up whilst trying not to disturb Kyouko-chan who lied in the other bed this room had, Shizuka put on some clothes, consisting of white jeans that clung well to her long legs and a purple sleeveless turtleneck that emphasized her bust greatly. She grumbled once more as her stomach growled again, just as she finished changing and putting on some sandals.

Taking one brief glance at Kyouko-chan, who still slept blissfully, Shizuka smiled and exited the room, careful not to close the door too loudly, a minor thing that she took great pride in – contrary to what most probably thought of her, she was not a ditz _all_ the time, just most of the time. There was a difference, darn it!

Making her way downstairs to where the dining hall was at, she was happy to see that some other survivors already up and waiting in a line to be served food, actual food, cooked to perfection if the smell was anything to go by. That most of the survivors were looking far more relaxed than yesterday only made the sight that much more gratifying. It signified that this place really was safe.

Getting in line and making small talk with some of the others until she was served her food, Shizuka then walked off in search of a comfortable place to sit, which wasn't that hard to do given the sheer size of this place and the number of sofas around and stuff.

However, as she walked, she spotted a familiar head and she enthusiastically walked over to where he sat. "Komuro-kun~ good morning!"

The boy, dressed in his school uniform's pants and a red shirt, nearly jumped at her loud callout to him, but recovered after looking to see who it was.

"Oh, morning," he said coolly after calming down, a small smile on his face.

Shizuka, after sitting down, surveyed the teen next to her with an analytic eye. "Komuro-kun, have you gotten any sleep?"

"Nah, not really. Is it that obvious now?" he replied.

It was, at least to her. As a registered nurse, she knew what to look for well in advance of any signs becoming too obvious. She could see the slightest discolorations under his eyes, the small formations of lines on his face. To anyone else, Komuro-kun likely would've looked the same as always, but she could see that his fatigue was really taking a toll on him now.

Not wishing to say anything about it though, Shizuka merely took a few bites of her delicious breakfast – scrambled eggs and sausages – moaning in delight at the test of the latter.

Hmm? How odd, Komuro-kun's face was suddenly turning red! He didn't seem to have a fever though…

"Enjoying that meal, eh?" he muttered as the redness started going away. Eh, had he been embarrassed? By what?

"Yep!" she answered back.

"Yeah, I bet," he muttered. "…The others still sleeping?"

"Looks that way. Wouldn't surprise me if they sleep for another few hours – yesterday had been pretty…"

"Yeah, I know. Must be nice to sleep so well," Komuro-kun said in good humor.

Shizuka, on her part, couldn't help but smile somewhat awkwardly in agreement. Call her overly sensitive but hearing him mention sleep like that when he clearly wasn't getting any made her feel very concerned for the boy.

"So how long have you been up?" she decided to ask innocently.

"All night," he answered casually before taking another bite of his own food.

The answer nearly made Shizuka sputter in surprise. Her concern for him grew. From what little she knew, Komuro-kun hadn't gotten much sleep back at Kyouko-chan's penthouse suite and when they'd slept outside the other night, his watch shift had been the longest of the group's by a significant margin. She and the others had likely gotten more sleep last night than Komuro-kun has in days.

"That's not good, you know!" she suddenly started to say, a lecture spewing forth from her lips before she even knew what to truly say. "Sleep's essential for a growing boy! Especially now with all the constant moving around!"

The teen winced. "I know, but that's easier said than done. Sleep doesn't come easy anymore to me. And when I even do sleep…"

She didn't like the way he trailed off.

"What is it? Please, tell me what's wrong," she said, the more professional side of her taking over. Aside from dealing with injuries and stuff back at Fujimi, she also had to deal with students who simply needed someone to talk to about things. She was by no means a licensed therapist, but Shizuka liked to do her best to help others out in this regard too.

And it was starting to become clear that Komuro-kun wasn't suffering from a simple case of insomnia. Something else appeared to the cause.

This wouldn't do. Even though she and him haven't exactly talked much before, being part of the same group for the past few days had shown her the sort of person Komuro-kun really was and it amazed her. To think a teen like him could go through with another's request to be mercy killed, and his own friend at that too… not to mention acting as vanguard and something of a leader on their journey here, even drawing away most of the zombies… this boy sitting before her really was admirable and the least she could do was help him sort out his mental baggage.

That said, just because she asked him to tell her what's wrong didn't mean he was going to suddenly open up to her. The way his facial muscles tensed said it all. "I… there's really nothing to tell, Shizuka-san. Just started having trouble sleeping recently."

And wasn't that the truth? The sad thing though is that it was a vague truth.

"But surely there's something more to it than just that," she said softly, her food temporarily forgotten about. She turned around in her spot so that she was directly facing him. "Come on. You can tell me what's wrong."

Komuro-kun turned to look at her, hesitation clear in his eyes as he had a mental debate with himself that last a solid minute. But eventually, he relented.

"I've been having nightmares recently," he said softly, looking away from her and picking at the food on his plate. "Can never remember what they're about though. The only thing I do remember is just how intense they are, jolting me awake after only minutes of sleep… though there had been times where I could sleep for about an hour or two before waking up. Even then, barely felt like minutes to me."

Shizuka listened to this most thoughtfully, carefully digesting what he'd just said and picking it apart. Nightmares, huh? So intense as to keep him from sleeping… she's heard of similar cases before, but never to this degree if he'd been inflicted with insomnia for days.

"How long has this been going on?" she asked.

"A few weeks now. Maybe even longer," Komuro-kun replied.

Shizuka nearly jolted at the answer. If he'd been going through this for that long and had subsequently only getting what felt like minutes' worth of sleep for just as long…

God above, just how has he even been functioning until now?! By all rights, he should be staggering around and moaning like those zombies outside!

"And there's a bit more too, Shizuka-san…" he began, making her blink in surprise. It seemed having someone to actually talk with about this has prompted him to give up some more info willingly. "…I've been feeling a small case of déjà vu here."

"Déjà vu?" she repeated.

"The monsters we've seen so far… hell, even the zombies to some extent… they feel-." He suddenly stopped as though embarrassed by what he was going to say. Either that or he felt like he might actually be crazy. "They feel familiar to me."

Those words were as straightforward as could be yet Shizuka could only stare at the teen blankly, her mind trying to comprehend whatever implications the words had.

Familiar? Those monsters out there and even the zombies? How so? Did Komuro-kun have prophetic abilities or something? Given how crazy things were now, Shizuka honestly wouldn't be surprised if that was somehow the case; not like there hadn't been plenty of unnatural sightings or macabre foreshadowing statements made in the past.

Feeling much more interested than before, Shizuka tried to think of what to say in response to this.

But just as she was about to speak again-.

"Marikawa-sensei? Is that you?"

Someone interrupted them.

At the exact same time, she and Komuro-kun turned to see who'd spoken. Both were equally surprised to see who the speaker was.

"S-Shido-sensei?" Shizuka stuttered out slightly.

Sure enough, the glasses-wearing man of Fujimi's teaching staff was standing just several feet away from her now, a plate of food in his hands. He eyed her intently in what appeared to be disbelief, yet Shizuka shivered nonetheless under his gaze.

Something felt off about him.

"My word, you're alive!" the man said, sounding positively relieved. "And here I thought it was only Hayashi-sensei who made it out alive from my fellow staff."

At that, Shizuka nearly flinched. Kyouko-chan had actually mentioned to her last night about Shido-sensei being alive but seeing was believing after all. Not to mention that the unnerving vibe he gave off simply didn't do Kyouko-chan's description of the man now justice.

Before, the teacher had given off a weird vibe to her, not enough to warrant suspicion or anything, but enough for her to realize something was up. But now though… the wrongness was more pronounced somehow, as if Shido-sensei had undergone some sort of change. Crisis has a way of doing that to people, for better or worse… and right now, she was getting the feeling that Shido-sensei's change fell into the latter category somehow. So much so that merely his presence gave it away to her.

"I-I'm glad to see you're doing well too," Shizuka managed to say with a sincere enough expression. "Did anyone else make here?"

Shido nodded. "A good number of students, yes. We'd managed to escape on a bus and drive close enough to here to be escorted by some of the men… though not without casualties up until that point." He looked off in the distance at that.

Shizuka knew the look was meant to be one of sadness but there was a slight gleam in the eyes that made it look so very false to her.

"That's great to hear!" she said now, this time feeling genuinely happy. Shido aside, she was glad other students had made it out alive. She was surprised she hadn't seen any of them around though but then again she had gone to sleep early yesterday, presumably after they'd arrived here.

Shido nodded in agreement before looking afflicted by something. "I'd love to talk some more, but I'm actually taking this plate to one of the students – although not serious, he'd been hurt badly enough to stay in bed this morning despite already being up. I offered to bring him a meal. Hmm, come to think of it, do you think you can come with me to check on the young man? He's already been treated, but I'd like a second opinion, if possible."

Shizuka, at those words, paused ever so slightly. As a nurse, tending to others was her way of life. By all rights, she should accept this offer. But with it coming from Shido of all people…

"Actually, she's already agreed to look after someone else," Komuro-kun suddenly spoke up. "We found a young girl on our own travel here and she's taken some nasty hits. She'll survive, but Shizuka-san here wants to be near her just in case the wounds worsen somehow. She's just taking a break for some food real quick."

Shido turned to look at the teen in surprise, as if only now noticing him. "Oh?" There was a hint of challenge there.

A challenge that Shizuka now more than eagerly met. "That's right!" she exclaimed. "Komuro-kun and I were both looking over the girl since she's developed an attachment to him. We're just eating for now before returning to watching over her since she's resting still."

Shido looked back at her. "I… I see. How admirable of you, Marikawa-sensei. Though if possible, once the girl is better, can you…?"

"Of course," Shizuka answered readily.

Shido smiled. By all rights, the smile should look charming, but to her it was as if looking at a sneering snake. "Then I shall leave you to it. May we get a chance to talk later," he said before bowing slightly and walking off…

…Though not before shooting Komuro-kun a quick glance in the process, one that did little to hide his distaste.

The two of them waited until the man was out of sight before Shizuka suddenly exhaled. "T-That had been kind of scary~!" She looked to the teen gratefully. "Nice save, Komuro-kun!"

He smiled lightly. "He kind of rubbed me the wrong way too, so…" He shrugged unapologetically, which got a light giggle out of the busty nurse.

However, with their previous conversation cut off and the mood ruined, Shizuka now found it hard to start it up again and so all she could do was silently lament Shido's appearance. That man had a way of squirming his way into things, it seemed.

A long minute of comfortable silence then passes by, the two of them left with no choice but to resume eating-.

Until yet another interruption occurred, this one grabbing the attention of everyone else around too.

It came in the form of a loud smack from upstairs, which had been preceded by a brief yell. And the voice was one the two of them immediately recognized.

Komuro-kun in particular looked worried upon hearing the voice.

"Rei!"

* * *

When Rei had woken up several minutes ago, it had been to a pretty damn good sunrise if she was being honest with her herself – the cream Shizuka had put on her back really helped numb the pain and her having all but collapsed from exhaustion ensured she got caught up on all the sleep she'd desperately needed.

Having then spotted a peaceful looking Alice sleeping in the other bed in the room with Zeke comically hanging off the bed whilst asleep too had further bolstered her mood, enough for her to get up, put on some clothes that had been left for her and had intended to go and get something to eat – she'd awakened with a hell of an appetite.

However, as soon as she had changed and opened the door to her room, it had been to a most unexpected sight and one that made her freeze in place, like a fucking deer before headlights.

There, right there coming down the hallway, was none other than Koiichi Shido-.

-The one whose crooked politician father had been investigated by her dad. The one who was just as slimy a son of a bitch as said politician dad… and the one who'd taken out his anger on her by rigging her grades so that she had to repeat the year over. He'd even gloated about it to her afterwards.

…And now here that fucker was, walking like his shit didn't stink.

By the time he seemed to spot and recognize her, her shock had already given way to pure anger that threatened to spill forth. It took all she had to keep from shaking in rage.

But her attempt to do that was immediately threatened when he came to a pause just a foot or two away from her.

The bastard even let out an exaggerated sigh, as if seeing her again reminded him of some comically bad times.

"Well, well," he began as a sneer formed on his face. "I guess you're one of the ones who survived alongside Hayashi-sensei and Marikawa-sensei. Well, I certainly hope your stupidity didn't cause them any troubles – you did have to repeat a year, after all."

He then chuckled at his own comment.

And that was when Rei lost it.

She wouldn't lie – she could be pretty whiny and loud. But this time, she was so fucking angry that any words she'd initially intended to yell out just went flying out the window and she instead just let out a yell of absolute fury and lashed out physically instead.

Oh, the way her hand connected with the side of his face was wonderful. As was the expression that had been on his face just a split second prior to impact. It caught him so off guard that the bastard actually went falling onto the floor, dropping the tray that Rei only just now noticed him carrying.

Food spilled everywhere, but she couldn't care less. Anger running the show in her mind now, she stomped out of her room and up to the downed sniveling teacher, intending on doing much more to him.

But just before she could get close to him…

"Hey, the fuck you doing, bitch?!"

Having raised her hand in order to hit him again, Rei found it in a vice grip. She was then suddenly spun around and all she could do was look in surprise at the delinquent Tsunoda before he shoved her against the wall.

Rei nearly cried out, hitting it backfirst hard, but she kept the cry in. Not in front of this punk and that rat bastard. She wouldn't dare show them any tears, no matter how much that hurt.

She glared at Tsunoda who simply glared back while a few other people came running down the hall to help Shido up. Rei only vaguely recognized them as classmates from Fujimi.

How the hell did they get here? With Shido? Why were they looking so worried over him when they hadn't been particularly close to him before all this shit?

None of these questions really mattered to her right now, though – she just wanted to get her hands on Shido again, especially now that he was shooting her an indignant glare, as if he really was a victim.

Tsunoda blocked her path, however. "Hey, didn't you hear what I said, cunt?! Back the fuck off Shido-sensei or I'll shove you again… and I won't be as gentle!"

She paid no heed to his threats. "Move! Him and I have a score to settle here!" She tried to make it past him, but she was still hurt and Tsunoda was stronger than her anyways, so he held her back without too much issue though she sure as hell wasn't making it easy for him to _keep_ her pinned. "Get up, you bastard! You have a lot to answer for!"

She tried to fight her way past Tsunoda when her yells went unanswered and struck him with her elbow in his ribs. All this did was just make him lose it and the next thing she knew, he punched her in the stomach.

Spittle flew from her mouth as did all the air in her lungs and this time, she did collapse to the floor.

Tsunoda roared and was clearly raring to hit her again, no doubt feeling slighted. But just before he could do anything more, they were all interrupted.

"HEY!"

Louder than she's ever heard before, Rei heard Takashi let out that one word, filled with energy and rage that defied the usual fatigued and semi-quiet demeanor he had as he came charging in like a mad bull.

Tsunoda didn't even get the time to look up before Takashi came in swinging, his left fist slamming against the side of the delinquent's jaw so hard that it immediately drew blood, even knocked a tooth out. But Takashi didn't let up after the one hit and swung his other arm, striking his target in the gut.

Tsunoda was literally lifted off his feet by a few inches for just a second before landing. But as soon as his feet touched the floor again, he all but collapsed to his knees and held his gut, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.

"You… mother fu-!" Tsunoda started, wheezing the words out, only to get cut off when Takashi kicked him hard in the face, hard enough to send him tumbling back a bit.

As soon as Tsunoda was knocked away, Takashi looked back to Rei now and she looked back at him in genuine shock. Just where had that come from? She'd never seen him that mad before nor that violent!

"You alright?!" he asked as he helped her up.

"A-Ah…" She could only stutter, her mind trying to process what had happened just now. And she'd thought she'd been mad just now, but seriously, the gleam in his eyes as he attacked Tsunoda… it was honestly terrifying. "I'm okay… though I'll probably have another bruise or two now."

Takashi looked her over just as Shizuka came running finally. Apparently, Takashi had just been that much faster to respond.

"What is going on here?" uttered a voice Rei only vaguely recognized from her youth.

She and the others there whipped their heads around to see none other than Souichirou Takagi approach them all with Saya swiftly coming up behind him, the tall and powerfully built man eyeing them all so intensely that even the hotheaded Tsunoda shut the hell up.

"Well?" spoke the man of the house. "I've asked you lot a question… and I'm expecting answers _now._ "

* * *

When Saya had awakened half an hour ago, it had been to the familiar sight of her room, which had felt like a surreal experience to her considering the events leading up to today. But it'd been a most pleasant sense of surrealism and she'd wasted no time in getting up, getting dressed and seeking out her mother.

And to her pleasant surprise, when she'd found her mom, she found her dad as well. Apparently, the man had returned during the late night. The pinkette had then taken the time of reconnecting with her parents after the nightmarish events of this apocalypse so far and all had felt right in the world for her…

…Until something inevitably had to ruin it.

And that 'something' had been none other than Rei screaming followed by a loud smack that undoubtedly drew a lot of attention. It definitely had gotten her attention along with that of her father's, more so when they heard a quick but genuine scuffle break out not long afterwards, which had prompted the two of them to rush and check it out while her mother stayed behind to take care of other matters.

This resulted in the current situation, which her father was quick to address after demanding answers from the people involved.

Saya had to say, she was surprised to see Shido here, along with some other teens that she recognized as students from her school. She was not surprised, however, to see Takashi and Rei there in the thick of it, having looked angry at the mere sight of the teacher and the others.

She may not know what exactly went down here, but she knew the teacher was a smug man, wicked and cunning though nowhere near the extent he'd like to think. As such, she was most pleased when he tried to offer an explanation that obviously painted him and his little posse there in a good light whilst casting Takashi and Rei as savages, only for him to get all but told to be quiet by her dad.

"He's offered his side of the story… now to hear yours," he said to Takashi and Rei. "Preferably, away from others' eyes and ears."

In the next instant, Saya could hear multiple other people not so subtly scuffling out of the area, save for Shizuka, who she and her dad passed by to get here.

"That means you too, Shido," her dad said to the man just as he was about to speak again. "As well as your wards."

Shido opened and closed his mouth a few times while Tsunoda finally regained that usual fire of his, looking ready to fight… only for Shido to finally get a hold of himself and mutter for him to stand down.

They all then watched in silence as Shido and the others retreated. The sight of them leaving like battered hounds with tails between the legs was simultaneously pleasing and mildly saddening to see; Saya would've genuinely liked to see Tsunoda get smacked around a bit by her dad.

Oh well.

"Now then," Souichirou began after making sure they were alone here. He spoke lowly, nonetheless to avoid being overheard. "I assume that man was at fault for whatever happened."

Rei's indignant expression was answer enough for him, it seemed.

"I see. I've had the displeasure of dealing with his father before in various political meetings and events. That man was a spineless piece of filth, eager to take advantage of those he thought below him, but never having what it took to truly confront those that were his equals and betters… I can tell that the apple didn't fall far from the tree there." Souichirou eyed the direction Shido walked away in with a grim expression. "I don't know what exactly happened here, but I'm sure you were justified in some way. Just know that this likely won't be the end of it – you'd caught him off guard this time, but that man will likely be scheming against you now."

"Then why not throw him out?" Rei asked harshly, fixing the wrinkles on the blouse and athletic pants that had been provided for her. "Let him fend for himself out there with the zombies and monsters. Let's see if he actually is more than just another shitbag in this world."

Souichirou huffed at the words in mild amusement before schooling his expression once more. "As much as I'd like to do so, I've made an oath to be there for the people should a crisis ever occur and I'd rather die than break my code of honor. If I did that, I'd be no better than most other politicians out there in the world, circumstances now notwithstanding." He paused and held up a hand to Rei just when she'd been about to speak again. "Make no mistake, however. Should that man stir up trouble here, I will take action against him. Regardless if the threat is external or internal, I will allow no one to threaten the people of this country."

"…Fair enough," Rei muttered before sighing. "Sorry for the trouble, by the way."

Saya watched as her dad merely shook his head. "Conflict such as this was inevitable, I suppose. All we can do is respond as swiftly as possible and put an end to it. Now then, if you shall excuse me…" He turned to leave, but not before looking to her. "Saya, I believe that we can catch up more a little later. After all, you have your own matters to take care of today, yes?"

He didn't wait for an answer – not that one was needed – before walking off.

The others there eyed her in mild confusion. "W-What did he mean by that?" Shizuka asked hesitantly.

Saya took off her glasses for a second to rub the spot in between her eyes, feeling tired now.

So much for waking up in a good mood.

Putting her glasses back on, she looked them all in the eyes before issuing an order that she'd tolerate no backtalk for.

"Go get the others. We all need to have a talk."

* * *

Kohta had been sleeping very well, at least until Komuro had come and woken him up. And not gently either – the taller and much more fit teen had physically dragged him out of the large and comfortable bed when the subtler methods had failed to rouse him much.

Thoroughly annoyed, Kohta had gotten dressed and grabbed himself a plate of food before following Komuro to a large rec room that Takagi-san had apparently forbade anyone barring a select few from entering.

Said 'select few' were none other than those that he'd travelled with from the school to here and upon noticing this fact, Kohta's annoyance upped and vanished, confusion and mild uncertainty filling him now as Komuro silently ushered him into a comfy seat near the center of the room.

Kohta couldn't help but feel slightly out of place here, seeing Busujima, Rei, Hayashi-sensei, Shizuka-san, and Alice looking all well dressed while he and Komuro were the only ones dressed in more casual clothes. And of course, Takagi-san's manner of dress went without saying since this was her house, after all. No doubt, it'd been her who'd given the best clothing she and her mom had available to the other girls here.

And speaking of the girl…

"Good," Takagi-san muttered as she folded her arms under her large breasts, huffing as she took stock of them. "Gathering you all up didn't take as long as I thought it would."

"U-Uhm…" Kohta couldn't help but speak up, setting his plate of food aside for the moment. "We all didn't somehow screw something up, right?"

Damn it, he knew he shouldn't have snuck a few of the guards' guns away for his own use. B-But how could he not?! Seriously, they had shotguns! Assault rifles! Even magnums! All of them the newest and most advanced ones too, with semi-auto options and more!

"No, porker," Takagi-san said flatly.

Kohta tried not to sight in relief too obviously.

"Is this about what we briefly discussed yesterday?" Busujima then asked.

"Exactly that," answered Takagi-san.

"What did you two even…?" Miyamoto muttered.

Takagi-san turned in her direction. "What our individual plans are from here on out," she stated. "I'll be really blunt here, but the whole point of our little group was to check on our parents – mine, yours, and Mr. reckless over here-," she motioned to Komuro, "-but as we all can clearly attest to, my parents are fine and more than that, my home has been well fortified and serves as a shelter for others."

"Yeah, easy to see that," Miyamoto mumbled. "The point?"

"With the situation being what it is now, what need do any of us have in going with you and Takashi to check on your parents." Takagi-san said this so flatly that it took a few seconds for the words to fully sink in for everyone.

And when that happened, all of them bustled about, even Kohta.

"H-Hey-!" Miyamoto started, only to be cut off by the pinkette.

"Look, I'm not trying to sound cold or anything, but I'm back with my parents and our workers – I've, at least, fulfilled my part of the objective. So what obligation do I have that would be enough for me to leave my family behind to help you locate yours? Especially with phonelines still down and survivors dwindling outside my property thanks to the zombies and monsters?" She then spread her arms out to the rest of them. "What about everyone else? Busujima still doesn't seem keen on looking for her father any time soon and the others here have no one out there to really look for. It's only the two of you that have people to search for."

Kohta couldn't help but flinch at the angry tone Takagi-san's voice took, especially when he saw the words impacted Miyamoto. Sadly, the glasses wearing girl made a good point; none of them had any real reason to help Miyamoto and Komuro find their families now that they were here within a veritable fortress.

Sure, it would be the right thing to do, but in this fucked up mess? Doing the right thing was so hard to do, anyone attempting it would likely die before accomplishing anything. Hell, if Takagi-san's mom and their men hadn't shown up when they had, their little group would've likely died in very short order against that 'tree' monster and the undead.

"Even after what happened?"

Kohta perked up, surprised by how calmly Komuro seemed to be taking this and also by what he'd just asked.

Komuro sat there, close to Miyamoto, leaning forward so that his elbows rested on his knees. The tired teen eyed the pinkette clinically. "Saya… I'm sure your dad must have told you about last night."

The pinkette was almost eerily silent in the face of that remark. It was a good few seconds before Takagi-san sighed. "Papa informed me of what happened." She looked to the rest of the group before speaking. "…Two people were killed last night. Students from our school. This idiot was the one to stumble across the scene."

Kohta, having been about to pick up his plate to eat, nearly dropped it from the shock. The others didn't hold up as well as he did though, Hayashi-sensei recoiling as if struck while the nurse looked like a bunch of puppies just got butchered before her eyes. Busujima's entire form seemed to still instantly and Miyamoto nearly fell out of her chair. Alice looked ready to cry and even Zeke whined as the dog picked up on the mood.

Komuro, on the other hand, didn't react much to this and proceeded to speak. "I get the point you're trying make here, Saya… and I won't be upset or anything if anyone here decides to stay. But I just want this to be out in the open – this place may not be as safe as advertised."

"And I will concede to that point, but as far as my papa says after his talk with you, it seems like it's just the one monster and one that relies on sneaking rather than more brute force methods. Not exactly something to write off, I know, but compared to the other ones we've seen so far, it's tame. If we can find a way to neutralize it or at least drive it off, my home will return to being safe again. In which case, my point still stands – we need to decide here and now what's going to become of our little group. Will we remain together or is this where we'll be parting ways?" Takagi-san placed her hands on her shapely hips – Kohta tried not to stare at those curvaceous hips, really, he tried not to – and eyed Komuro fiercely. "You can't expect just one monster to run us all out of here, dummy."

"I'm not. I'm just saying that even if anyone here does want to stay behind when Rei and I finally leave to find our families, they need to keep an eye out is all. I mean, it's not like any place on the planet is completely free of danger if these monsters and zombies really are everywhere now," Komuro said.

"Fair enough," Takagi-san said with a grimace. She made a grand motion with her right hand. "Well then, everyone. Despite how sudden this all was, you have just been given the gist of things. What's your decision?"

Kohta shuffled about in place, his food forgotten about for now. So did everyone else.

"W-Well…" Hayashi-sensei began, only to trail off.

"U-Uhm, this is just a bit too sudden," Shizuka stated feebly.

"Do we really have to split up?" asked a sorrowful Alice, Zeke staying protectively by her feet, though even the dog looked upset. "I mean, we all just met and now…"

Even the temperamental Takagi-san eyed the girl softly. "This isn't exactly something I like either… but it has to be done. We all have different goals and that means we won't always agree on what should be done next." She paused and sighed. "I know this is out of nowhere for most of you, especially with everything else still going on, but the sooner a decision is made, the better for us all in the long run."

"I'm going to find my parents," Miyamoto immediately proclaimed. She looked troubled by the bombshell Komuro and Takagi-san had just dropped on them all, but her eyes burned with resolve. "As soon as I'm sure my back isn't going to slow me down much, I intend to leave."

"…My parents and I may not be close, but I'm in the same boat as Rei," Komuro then said. "At the very least, I can help her find her parents first before worrying about my own problems. So whenever she's ready to go, I'll be going too."

"Then I intend to stay here. My family is here and I could do more here than I ever could otherwise," declared Takagi-san, not wavering one bit in the face of her friends' words.

Kohta could only look back and forth between his three fellow teens, amazed by how swiftly they'd made their decisions. It only made it that much harder for him to make his own decision, however.

Although he wanted to remain with Takagi-san, Komuro and Miyamoto had done their part in keeping them all alive up until now. He owed them, even if his own views on the only other male in their group remained uncertain given Komuro's oddities.

The others looked to be in the same boat too, unable to come up with their own decisions. Even Busujima, who Kohta had expected to give an immediate reply based on her personality, looked uncharacteristically meek right now.

"…Well, I figured as much," said Takagi-san. She glared at no one in particular and without any real heat. "Take some time to think on this. Just try not to take too long or else something will happen to make the decision for you guys."

"So… what about the monster then?" Shizuka asked worriedly.

"Who exactly died too?" Hayashi-sensei chipped in. "Anyone we may all know?"

"I think one of the girls was Hanuichi. Not sure about the other one," Komuro answered. "Both of them… they hadn't been left fully recognizable."

Well, that sure made things tenser. Absolute no extra pressure put on them at all, nope, not at all.

But seriously, Kohta was feeling unnerved now. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. And although Takagi-san seemed somewhat dismissive of this monster, he sure as hell wasn't. If anything, this new monster was scaring him more than the others. At least, the other ones had been up in their faces.

A monster that apparently was capable of intelligent enough thought to sneak in and kill two people… that meant simply keeping an eye out wasn't going to work as well as it should.

And this was a point he felt really had to be brought up. "A-Ah, Takagi-san, but what about the monster then? If it's still around here somewhere, then this place really isn't as safe as it could be, like Komuro said. Any preventative measures in place yet?"

"My parents are trying to come up with something, but since they've no idea what exactly this monster can do, all that can be done is simply tightening security around all entry points to the sleeping quarters. That said-," she explained before pointing at Komuro. "This guy can apparently feel when it's nearby."

All eyes rounded on Komuro and the tired teen twitched at having the attention shift to him so suddenly.

"Seriously?" Kohta couldn't help but ask.

"Well, it's not like I can tell exactly where the damned thing is, just that it was nearby," Komuro answered.

At that, a thought occurred to Kohta. "…Were you able to sense those other monsters we encountered? Is that why you acted so cautious at those times?"

Komuro's facial expression was completely blank as he undoubtedly tried to think of something to say. But a few seconds later, the teen grimaced, his expression now one of resignation. "…Somewhat. I got a feeling they were nearby just before they attacked, but it wasn't as if I knew for sure they were there or when they'd jump us."

But even then, just the fact he could pick up on them at all… talk about odd. Was Komuro psychic or something? Kohta had never really been one to seriously consider the existence of such abilities, but with zombies and monsters around now, he was willing to consider anything now.

Hmm, well, trouble with decisions aside, this was definitely something interesting to think about. Was this sixth sense of Komuro's something that could potentially be focused and improved? What was the range of this sense right now? What about the zombies, could Komuro sense them?

A gun geek he may be, but this was also really something fun to geek out over.

He was halfway tempted to change topics here and ask his fellow teen more about this sensing ability of his -.

-Only to stop before he could even speak when the lights in the room suddenly flickered and shut off.

Given that the rec room had a few windows and that the morning wasn't even close to over yet, there was still plenty of light in the room courtesy of the sun. Nonetheless, the lights going out was a worrying thing.

A sentiment shared by everyone.

"The hell?" Takagi-san muttered.

"Power generator blew out, perhaps?" Busujima said after what seemed like a lifetime of silence from her.

"No. No, it's not that…" Takagi-san said, sounding a little agitated now, distracted.

"So, we lost electricity, big deal," Miyamoto said with an eye roll. "I'm sure your workers will get it working again soon somehow."

The look the pinkette shot the other girl would've made flowers wilt and die instantly. "The power is out."

"We can tell."

Wow, both statements had been said so dryly, Kohta could've sworn this room became like a desert for an instant there.

"Haven't you noticed it, damn it?!" Takagi-san seemed to have lost whatever patience she had. She pointed in what seemed like a random direction. "Listen!"

"There's nothing," Hayashi-sensei mumbled. Then her eyes immediately widened. "T-There's nothing," she repeated, this time with a hint of real shock and fear.

And when the teacher pointed that out, Kohta and the others began to understand.

The men here liked to play stereos in the surrounding areas to mask whatever noise they made as they shuffled around.

Said stereos seemed to be played around the clock, with the volume being adjusted accordingly depending on what had to be done at any given moment. None of the survivors, them included, hadn't cared much for the noise since they'd simply been too tired and happy to be alive and safe to care.

And now those same stereos were _silent_.

Kohta shivered as he realized this.

The lights going out was one thing, but the stereos were another matter entirely and not just because they acted as wards against the zombies. From what he could tell, those stereos were all powered by small and personal generators, meaning they weren't connected to any power lines here. If electricity truly had gone out, then the stereos shouldn't have been affected at all.

So just what the hell happened?!

* * *

 _A few minutes ago…_

Near the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, there was a ship. Heavily armored and fortified, it was more akin to a floating castle than an actual ship, but a ship nonetheless.

It also carried nuclear warheads.

And just moments ago, the people aboard the ship had rebelled against all standards and procedures in place to fire _several_ of these warheads.

By all rights, this was an act of treason… or it would have been considered such, if anyone back on the mainland were still alive and in a position to do something about this.

Alas, none weren't, at least as far as the crew knew, who've been trying to make contact for the past day with anyone, only to turn up empty.

The crew knew not what was going on back on the mainland nor in the rest of the world, but they were at the very least aware that the situation throughout the world was apocalyptic… and that may actually be putting things mildly.

That said, without any contact from _anyone_ , the crew aboard the ship didn't have the authority to launch those warheads and certainly not any reasons to ever do so…

Until most recently.

The ship had been drifting aimlessly along the path that the crew had long since charted for it when they'd picked something up on radar that had all but literally given them heart attacks.

They knew not what it was exactly, but they could tell that the _thing_ was very much alive and ever so slowly moving, so slowly in fact that it took several minutes to even notice the movements.

In any case, the damned thing was shifting ever so slightly towards them… and the crew knew that the inevitable collision was one that the ship wouldn't survive.

To be expected, considering the monstrosity was more than _5,000 kilometers long_. Its width, while not as absurd, still had to be measured in the hundreds of kilometers.

Despite the creature being still a good distance away from them, the very discovery of such a thing instilled in the crew a fear unlike anything they'd ever felt before, its ridiculous size mitigated only marginally by its ridiculously slow movement speed.

Whatever logic and common sense and rules and discipline they'd possessed before vanished in the moments after this discovery had been made. And with this shift in the entire crew's mentality came the decision to ignore whatever procedures had been in place to launch an attack against that creature before it could do anything to them or to any of the continents.

Hence the launching of several nuclear warheads.

The crew had watched with an all-consuming fervor as the warheads neared the center mass of monstrosity, their fear growing as the closeness between them and the target was now enough for the thing's very _breaths_ to cause large tidal waves.

The warheads all struck true, exploding with all the force to be expected of them.

The crew, waiting to see what damage was done, cared not for the nuclear fallout, their fear so great now that all they could do was simply remain rooted in place. Until they see the results of their actions, not a single person budged an inch, not even a centimeter.

As the collective explosion of the warheads began to swiftly subside, one crew member looked to the radar and saw that the monster had come to a complete stop.

For just an instant, this crew member felt hope blossom in his heart.

Only for this hope to be crushed immediately thereafter when the monster, for lack of a better way to put it, let out a pulse.

The pulse crossed the entire ocean and even across the rest of the world in a matter of seconds, not that the crew knew this, for the instant it washed over them, everything on the ship simply ceased to function – radar, engines, communication equipment, everything.

The pulse had been not unlike an EMP, only far more powerful, clearly capable of affecting things that weren't electronic.

The crew came to this realization in a manner of seconds after the pulse passed them over.

It was the last thing they got to do before the entire mass of the creature shifted course and at a speed that nothing of its size had a right to.

None of them even had a chance to scream before the monster smashed through the ship, wiping them all out with such an immense show of force that the motion gave rise to a massive tsunami that would then go onto to flood the entire eastern seaboard of the United States, the water traveling well inland until it reached just slightly into the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota.

Unmindful of the massive shift in the sea level it had caused as well as the devastation it had indirectly caused to North America, the massive monstrosity proceeded to slowly return to its previously docile state.

Completely unharmed by the strike dealt against it, the monstrosity slowly fell asleep again, uncaring of the small movements that its body would make as it slept.

* * *

"Just what the hell had that been?" mumbled a still angry but now confused Tsunoda.

"Shido-sensei, you have any idea what's going on?" asked another student nearby.

Koiichi Shido paid the two little mind, instead opting to focus on nursing the side of his face that had been struck. Despite the fact it's been more than twenty minutes since Rei Miyamoto had struck him, his face still hurt.

The little bitch sure packs a surprising amount of strength. He'll grant her that much, but nothing more.

And if he absolutely had to be honest, if only with himself, that strike had been a wake-up call for him.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack on the school, taking charge aboard the bus had been easy since the students had naturally been in a panicked state of mind. Having then all but taught himself how to drive the bus on the spot in order to escape the school after that monster and most of the zombies had left the grounds had endeared him that much more to the students once they'd been relatively calmed.

Having then manipulated most of the students into thinking they were special – they really weren't, these poor deluded fools – Shido had spent the journey here basking in their praise and near-worship of him, whatever savior-like image they had of him being reinforced at his behest by way of kicking a few students off the bus along the way, the ones that didn't quite buy into his machinations. That said 'sacrifices' had ended up serving as great distractions during the more dangerous parts of the drive to this place had merely been a nice bonus.

Yes, he'd swiftly grown complacent with how the remaining students aboard the bus continued to stroke his ego but then Miyamoto's actions had now snapped him out of it.

He'd thought it'd be easy to manipulate his way into a position of authority here and take charge and make the survivors here work for his own benefit in this mad new world, but now he could tell that achieving this wasn't going to be as effortless as he'd thought.

He'd have to plan things out carefully.

Thankfully…

"This isn't so bad at all…"

"Eh? Shido-sensei, you say something?!" Tsunoda asked in that annoyingly loud voice of his.

This time, Shido didn't ignore him. He fixed a stern glare on the teen and was most pleased to see the normally unruly delinquent flinch and step back under his gaze. Went to show how tamed even Tsunoda had become on their journey here.

"Merely thinking aloud to myself, Tsunoda-san." Shido removed his hand from his face and looked into a small mirror one of the female students quickly pulled out for him to use. He hissed slightly in mild bemusement.

That red mark wouldn't be fading for a while, it'd seem. Oh well.

"Now then, it'd be best to try and stay quiet, everyone. Or else it'll get some unwanted attention," he told the others there.

"What do you mean, Shido-sensei?"

Ah, there was Miku, Fujimi's resident slut. While not into teens, Shido could certainly see why people of both genders would be attracted to the girl – she had an impressive figure and wasn't afraid to use it. Perhaps this whelp will be more useful than the others with some of his future plans.

"Listen, everyone… do you hear anything?" It was a rhetorical question, but everyone there paused to listen carefully. Beyond most of the other people awake mumbling to one another over what was going on, there was hardly much noise.

And to his mildly pleasant surprise, Miku caught onto what this meant. "The stereos…!"

Shido nodded, trying not to smile but instead fake a concerned expression. "I don't know what just happened, but we just lost the one line of defense that had been working so well against those things outside of this estate's grounds. I believe you all know what that means."

Everyone there gulped in worry.

The zombies hunted by sound. Without the stereos covering up most of the noise that comes from here, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if soon enough the undead start banging on the massive gate to this safe haven.

"W-What are we gonna do?!" another student whispered urgently, as if speaking at anything above that in volume would immediately summon a horde of zombies into this needlessly large library.

"For now, we must remain calm," Shido started off as he stood, gesturing for his followers to crowd around him. "Letting our fears get the better of us will only bring disaster. So please, take a deep breath all of you… now let it out… good, good."

He tried not to sneer. This was starting to feel too easy despite his concerns from mere minutes ago.

"Now then, it's important to try and find out what exactly is going on now and to then help devise and implement a solution – just like when dealing with any other problem we've dealt with so far." Like how they'd kicked out the disobedient students for the sake of their own survival… well, maybe not quite like that, but the most basic principle still applied, he supposed.

"Students, listen to me carefully – this is your chance!" he declared strongly. "Back on the bus, I told you all that you were special, the very fact you've survived the hell that had occurred at our great school being proof of your innate greatness! But in order for you to have realized that, a trial had been needed… and this is yet another trial meant to test you."

Hook, line and sinker. He'd had them in the palm of his hands before, but now he may very well truly be God to them. What a wonderful thought that was – it certainly beat having tried to impress his bastard of a father any day of the week.

"Then what do we do, sensei?" asked one of the hapless students, a feeble looking boy whose eyes were practically glazed over from the awe the speech had instilled in him. "Please, you've helped us so much already, so please tell us – how best to overcome this trial!"

Several others around him quietly whooped and hollered in agreement.

"Integrate yourself into the workforce here. If there's meals to be prepared or clothes to be cleaned and passed out or items to be accounted for and then allocated, do it," Shido said, this time unable to hide his dark smirk, which went ignored by his followers. "Build up a trust with the others here and keep your ears and eyes open. Watch for anything of interest and listen for any useful gossip – anything that could tell us all of the state of affairs here, such as what the _current_ leadership has in mind for the people under its care."

What he was now doing was really quite simple – trying to directly work his way to the top here would be most difficult with Miyamoto and her pathetic group no doubt planning to keep a close eye on him. That the man of this house, Souichirou Takagi, already looked down on him in clear disdain wasn't going to help either.

In which case, if he was to take over, it'd have to be an outright coup, done not through sheer physical force, but instead through a display of overwhelming influence. To do that, he needed information, as much as he could get. Then he'd need a public display between him and the Takagis, where he laid any and all their dirty little secrets out for the others here to see. He needed to get them all on his side… only then could he demand they step down, even in spite of this place being their home, in order for him to take over.

Obviously, going around gathering intel on his own wouldn't do, so his students were just going to have to do it for him. Even if that little bitch and the others tried to keep watch of his group, there's no way they could keep tabs on all of them.

It may take a while to play out, but it'd be his win. He was sure of it.

He merely had to be patient.

Eyeing his students and seeing them eat up his words with every fiber of their beings, he decided to finish up his little speech with one final statement.

"There's no time to waste, my dear students," he began. "Quickly! While everyone else is still confused, go forth and do what you know must be done. Only then can this new trial be overcome!"

As his students swiftly obeyed his words and filed out, Shido tried not to laugh aloud.

Soon, this place would be his.

But first…

"Miku-san, Tsunoda-san… stay behind a moment, please," he requested of his two most notorious students. "I feel you two can play a much bigger role in all this… please hear me out."

As the two eagerly came up to him and he outlined what he wanted of them, Shido really couldn't keep his sinister grin off his face this time.

Who knew so much fun could be found in this hellish new world?

A world that would one day become his… starting first with this place.

* * *

 **I'm well aware that the storage and usage of nukes don't work the way presented in this chapter, but for the sake of fic, it had to happen this way. Hope you guys will understand.**

 **Now then, about Shido – he's the type of character that I'm most certain no one likes at all. Naturally, I'm amongst those that hates his guts, but what I didn't like too about him was that he felt kind of underused in the canon story. Sure, the manga was about teens surviving zombies and getting into all sorts of ecchi situations, but even then, there were only a relatively few times where other humans would directly come into conflict with them. And the times this did happen, it never lasted long at all.**

 **So, it's on this note that Shido will become more of an active threat against Takashi and the others, relying more on his cunning to fuck them over rather than trying to confront physically or pulling a gun or whatever. Now whether or not Shido will be an _effective_ threat despite his more active state in this fic is still up for debate, ha ha. Not that I plan to have him fail easily or soon though.**

 **Whelp, as this chapter shows, shit just keeps on hitting the fan without taking a break. And trust me, it's only going to get much worse before things start getting better.**

 **Hope you'll look forward to what else will be coming their way!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	8. Chapter 8

Because I'm prone to poor impulse control sometimes, I ended up seeing both the Incredibles 2 and Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom in the span of like a week (oh, my poor wallet). That said, money well spent!

The Incredibles 2 admittedly wasn't quite as amazing as I'd been hyping myself up into believing it was, but it was still an excellent film that helped finish up Bob's character development that started in the first film as well as providing some character development to Helen too. Not so much the others, not completely in my opinion, but they were still pretty fleshed out. Also loved all the little hints littered throughout the movie. Even if the villain's identity was pretty obvious, the way it was built up along with the reasoning for it all was pretty solid when viewed from the villain's logic.

As for Jurassic World, heh, it was something of a ride! On the one hand, while also rather typical even with the whole volcanic threat thing, it was still a great movie with solid acting and tense situations. On the other hand now… holy shit, so many stupid/greedy people in the movie! Granted, such characters have always been present in the Jurassic franchise along with copious amounts of plot conveniences, but they really cranked it up to 11 in this one. At least most of them got their exquisite comeuppance.

Now then, regarding the fic itself, things have been getting worse for pretty much the whole world in rapid order and trust me, it's not going to slow down anytime soon, ha ha. Thoughts about the massive monster and the destruction it caused? I'm really curious to know how exactly you all felt about that particular part and what it could mean for the story.

That said, thanks for the reviews too, you guys! As always, I'm glad you're enjoying things as they come in this fic. I hope I don't disappoint!

Now then, onto the chapter!

Chapter 8

Alice had to make a serious effort to avoid biting her lip. Vaguely, she recalled how she used to do that often when even younger as a sort of nervous tic. And she had plenty to be nervous about this time.

Ever since that tense talk with the others and the power went out everywhere, things have been insanely tense for everyone, people rushing around as they tried to figure out what exactly occurred and how to fix it.

It's been a few hours since then and the power still hasn't been restored, much to the palpable worry of everyone else in the mansion.

"Just what the hell is even going on?" Alice heard Saya one-chan mutter from nearby. The pinkette had spent a good portion of the time mulling over the possible cause of this outage with her parents, having been relying on any info their workers could give them as they did recon to figure things out and plan ahead.

But as was evident with the frustration in the older girl's voice, nothing was forthcoming.

"Gah, this is just great! If it's not one thing, it's another!" Saya one-chan then nearly yelled, throwing her hands up in the air.

Holding Zeke in her arms, Alice tried not to flinch at the sheer intensity of the older girl's tone of voice but flinched anyways. Even Zeke quietly yelped in worry.

Someone then put a slender arm around her in a comforting gesture. Alice didn't have to turn and look to see who it was – the huge mass pressing against the very top of her head indicated it was Shizuka nee-chan.

The blonde woman had taken to watching over – not unlike a mother – ever since they'd arrived here, something Alice was most gratefully for, even if some of the woman's actions reminded her a bit too much of her own mother, who'd died recently. But as painful as the fresh memories were, Alice was still gratefully to the buxom blonde for her efforts.

Still…. It did little to fully calm her down in this situation.

Especially since Alice still couldn't help but think back to what they all had been talking about earlier. Would they all really go their own ways from here on out? Despite being a kid, she knew that such a thing was inevitable – they all had their own things to accomplish – but even so, Alice didn't want them all to leave just yet… she didn't want to be left behind again.

"Come on," Shizuka nee-chan then said softly. "Let's find something to do while they work."

"O-Okay…" Alice answered quietly as she allowed herself to be gently pulled away from a still irate Saya onee-chan, who was now pacing the hallway in anger and worry.

Even as she turned her back to the pinkette, this image of such a worried looking girl stayed with Alice for the rest of the day.

Setting Zeke down so that he could walk alongside her and Shizuka nee-chan, Alice placed a hand over her chest, feeling her heart practically swell with fear in the process.

She prayed that things would look up soon.

* * *

Takashi carefully watched his footing as he followed the men along their mapped path to the stereos.

Following the abrupt end of the group's meeting earlier and feeling too wound up to accept simply waiting for answers, the teen had all but begged to be given some task to do. Specifically, to be one of the ones that checks out the downed stereos.

Amazingly, despite some of the men's (mild) protests to his joining them on account of 'being a kid, so you should just relax and let the adults handle it,' Souichirou had vouched for him and the next thing he knew he'd been given a handgun with which to defend himself if it came down to it.

Having never used a gun before outside of the fake ones used in arcade games, he was given a quick rundown of it by Hirano of all people just before leaving.

On that note, both Hirano and Saeko had tried to talk their way into joining the group as well, but Hirano had then pointed out that Saeko's wooden sword would be impractical and therefore he'd be the better choice due to the guns he had which had then prompted Saeko to point out the weapons' potential shortcomings.

Having sensed a 'guns vs. swords' debate about to develop at that moment, Takashi had all but outright told them to knock it the fuck off and stay behind. The last thing anyone needed was tension amongst the group because of petty shit like that – a weapon was a weapon, as far as he was concerned.

Anyways, that had been nearly half an hour ago or so. Needless to say, any and all thoughts about that little debacle were as far away from the forefront of his mind as could be, the teen focusing almost completely on the situation at hand.

Small teams of armed men had been sent out at random intervals – it had depended on how quickly they were able to suit up and mobilize – and had reported back one at a time to the Takagis about the status of the stereos and other little places that they'd set up over the course of the past few days.

The team Takashi had joined up with was to check the final stereo located several blocks over, easily the furthest one away. Several blocks may not sound very far away, but when those blocks were crawling with the undead, clustered together in their own groups of varying sizes, suddenly several blocks away might as well be several times farther away.

With the stereos down, they didn't have the luxury of hopping into one of their trucks and driving there, lest they wanted to get the attention of the entire district so travelling by foot was the only option. Not exactly the most comforting thing, but it was better than nothing.

Combat was also something that was to be avoided if possible since any fighting that broke out could potentially trigger a panic back at the Takagis' residence if only due to how close any fighting they do would be to the place.

Stuck somewhere between a rock and a hard place, Takashi could only grit his teeth in frustration and worry over the restrictions that the whole world seemed to be placing on them by sheer virtue of the undeads' presence.

That he'd been given some comfortable combat boots to wear along with a thick bullet proof vest (surprisingly light, he'd noted) did little to alleviate his fears.

Little to no talking was done the entire trip to their destination, the leader of the group relying primarily on hand signals to the others. Despite how militaristic the group was functioning, Takashi was able to keep up without issue.

It wasn't until they actually got to the place in question that things lightened up just a bit.

For one thing, the undead wandering the area weren't as plentiful in number as the area they had to traverse to get here.

For another thing…

"Jesus…" Takashi couldn't help but mutter.

The place they'd come to was none other than another mansion, comparable in size to the Takagis' but without any wall to keep people out. It would've looked welcoming under far better circumstances but instead came off as surprisingly intimidating, if only due to the rather gothic design of the place.

One of the men near him chuckled quietly at his one-word comment. "I know, right? Had a similar reaction the first time I saw this place too. Come on, let's head in."

The front door was unlocked, a fact that had Takashi visible worried, but the leader of the group smiled in reassurance. "The owners of this place are friends with the boss, close enough to have lent him his own key, which he in turn entrusted to me to set up the stereo here in the first place."

"You're not worried about the zombies somehow getting in? Or about… you know, the owners being in there all…" Takashi trailed off.

The leader shook his head as they all entered the place. "No, they went on a trip up north before shit went south and when we first got here, we made sure to do a full sweep of the place before setting up the stereo anyways. Not a room or cranny left unchecked."

"What about worrying about the zombies breaking in?" Takashi then asked, sounding intrigued.

"It may not look it, but the walls and doors here were built with metal frames under all that wood. If you think the boss' home is fortress, then this place is even more so. Would take cannon fire from tanks to blast through this place."

Takashi's eyes widened in amazement. Definitely hadn't been expecting an answer like that.

Which only brought up another question… "How come we're not set up here?"

Another guy walked by as they all headed up the stairs to the top of the mansion. "With how quickly things fell apart, we were just barely able to get people back to the boss' place as it is, even if we made it look easy. Transporting everyone back at the mansion as well as any new survivors we come across to here would be very time consuming, especially since we'd also have to move all our equipment and resources here too in order to remain at the top of our game."

The teen could only nod. Fair enough.

The leader motioned for them to follow him, making another signal as they reached another stairway that would take them directly to the roof of this mansion. "Alright, let's do this. I take point. You guys follow as soon as I see what's waiting for us."

With no choice but to hang back now, Takashi allows his focus to slip just enough to look around, surveying the inside of this place properly.

The owners sure had a fondness for art, it seemed, especially works that held some semblance of religious themes from the looks of it.

No problem with that. None at all. Still…

"Why all the hell imagery?" Takashi mumbled to himself.

It felt weird to be all superstitious now, but the various works of art about hell and some creatures that could only be described as demons and the various people being tortured didn't exactly imbue him with confidence.

At least it matched with the gothic architecture…

Takashi was roused from his thoughts when the others around swiftly moved into action, rushing up the stairs without a peep.

He was quick to follow and in a matter of seconds was out on the roof, which he could now see was something akin to a massive patio-styled place, presumably for parties to be held.

There in the very center of the place was the stereo equipment. The leader of the group along with one other were already inspecting the equipment while the rest spread out and set up a perimeter, with half of them looking over the edge of the roof towards the ground below while the rest started to patrol around the rest of the place.

Takashi tried not to gape at their efficiency. He could tell these guys, although probably not former JSDF, were well trained and with plenty of experience under their belts. It made him feel awkwardly out of place, if he had to be honest with himself.

Still, he didn't come this far just to do nothing.

Walking forward, he quietly called out to the leader of the team.

"How's it looking so far?"

"Odd, that's for sure," the man mumbled as he continued to dismantle and study each piece of equipment critically. "So far everything seems undamaged. And I know the generators here are top quality – no way they'd just fizzle out like that so suddenly."

Takashi narrowed his eyes. "Just like the others then, right?"

"It's looking that way, but I'm not about to just call it quits yet," the leader answered.

"Anything I can do then? Or should be doing?"

"When we first set all this up, we brought some extra stuff on the off chance this thing busted. It's on the second floor, west wing. First room at the very end of its hall," the leader answered smoothly without looking away from what he and the other guy were doing. "Can you take a look and see if anything's been damaged?"

Takashi nodded, feeling glad to have something to do. "Should I bring anything back with me?"

"Yeah, try and bring me this stuff-." The leader hefted up some random parts. "If they're not visibly busted, that is. Other than that, not much else to do. Just watch your back, kid. This place may be clear, but not gonna lie, this place gives me the creeps."

Nodding in complete agreement, Takashi wasted no time turning around and heading back down.

Heading back inside the mansion, Takashi paid no mind to any of the creepy portraits and artworks as he power walked to the room in question. He wasn't sure how long this would take, but he sure hoped it'd be done quick.

Reaching the room in a matter of seconds, he flung open the door and peered inside, eyes wide and alert as if expecting a ghost to pop out at him. Considering everything that's happened so far, he felt this was a pretty reasonable reaction.

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he fully stepped into the room, finger on the safety of his gun. The room was quite large as he'd been expecting, but without much in the ways of furniture or anything else really. The owners must have been in the middle of reorganizing this room into something else prior to their leaving.

The only things contained in this room were the stuff the leader just told him about and Takashi wasted not even a second in dashing forward to the neatly sorted pile of extra equipment and started his own inspection of the stuff there.

He was no technician, but he was pretty sure that if any of this stuff was fucked up in some way, it'd be pretty obvious to the naked eye. But so far, nothing appeared to be damaged as far as he could tell.

But then again, it's pretty much pitch black in here, so maybe he couldn't see any of the damage the stuff potentially had. Even with his eyes adjusting to the darkness, he still could barely the smaller components.

Swearing to himself for his own stupidity, Takashi got up and went to the end of the room, where a few windows were at, the drapes shut tightly.

He threw them open, not even wincing as the sun shined brightly through the large windows. Instead, he quite welcomed the light.

Especially when he heard what sounded like a pained hiss somewhere behind him.

Whirling around, handgun drawn and with the safety being switched off in an instant, Takashi pointed it…

At absolutely nothing. He was alone in this room, with only the equipment to keep him company.

His heartrate refused to slow back down, however as his five senses became untrustworthy. Remembering well what had happened just last night, he wasn't taking any chances. No way that sound could've been from one of those guys. For one thing, they appeared to trust him enough to do this little task on his own. For another, even if one of them had come down to check on him, they'd have called out to him well before now.

Still, he didn't 'feel' anything amiss right now. Maybe, just maybe, it'd been a trick of the mind. God knows he'd had so little sleep recently that hallucinations wouldn't be out of the question for him.

Eventually shouldering his gun after putting the safety on again, Takashi went back to his task with a renewed energy.

As he worked, Takashi hoped to hell and back that this really wouldn't take much longer to check out.

The leader was right – this place creeped him the fuck out.

* * *

The wickerman-like monster chided itself silently for its little slipup, only to then forgive itself. It should've expected the teen to throw open the drapes like that, but at the same time, it hadn't seemingly been its presence that the teen had sensed.

It had tested this just now, after all, having been hanging around the teen in this sealed off and pitch-black room, waiting to see if the teen would notice it.

The teen hadn't, much to its pleasant surprise. It would seem this boy could only really sense it when it took physical form but not when it remained in its fog-like state.

Interesting. And helpful.

Ever since last night, after it had consumed those two delectable girls, the monster had then experienced a bout of impatience after backing off and had decided to conduct a little test.

It was a creature of pure darkness. As such, it couldn't exist during the day. However, perhaps a loophole or two existed. After all, it's not like it completely ceased to exist during the daytime, it merely found its movements restricted immensely.

And sure enough, the monster discovered it could move around and even physically manifest in rooms that were dark enough after practicing a bit in an abandoned home a few blocks north of that survivors' nest it had invaded last night.

This discovery had filled the monster with a sinister glee. Alas, this discovery meant nothing right now, for ever since the power went out in absolutely everything, practically every window in that mansion was open, letting in light in nearly every room.

Manifesting in there would be nearly impossible, especially most of the survivors had gone outside, the power outage having apparently played on their innate fear of the dark somehow.

A pity, really.

Oh well, not like it was in a genuine rush to devour them all or anything – its appetite may still not be satisfied, but it wasn't so ravenous that it was in danger of starving to death.

Even it had been, simply waiting until nightfall to feast again would be a bit tough with that boy being able to sense it and no doubt the boy had told others of what had occurred. Although much stronger than any normal human, its might was feeble when compared to its brethren. If ganged up on by enough humans, its physical form would be felled. Direct conflict against a significant number of humans, especially with their guns and other weapons, would be suicidal.

Mindful of this, it had to ascertain this teen and determine what its options were with him.

Having just determined its incorporeal form couldn't be detected, it had intended initially to manifest and launch a swift surprise attack on the teen, killing him before he could even voice a warning to the others but just before it could do so, the drapes had been opened, the sunlight causing it a mild amount of pain that had forced it to retreat into another room, one that had no windows at all.

The monster was only mildly annoyed by this sudden turn of events though.

Although things hadn't quite turned out the way it had wanted it to, all this ultimately achieved was delaying the inevitable.

For unlike these humans, it knew exactly what had caused the power outage and to what extent it affected things.

It'll be _days_ before the power returns to everything, starting with the most minor of things before eventually returning to those stereos they'd been relying on so much.

That meant they'd have absolutely no source of light at all during the nights until then.

And the night was its domain. And now with it surer than ever of its own abilities and limitations, it was confident that this boy would prove a threat no longer once night came.

Yes, tonight would be a most wonderful night for it.

It could hardly wait.

* * *

"I don't like this," Miyamoto said for what had to be hundredth time.

Although Saeko could sympathize with the girl's feelings, that didn't mean the swordswoman liked hearing the same simple statement repeated so often.

"Must you repeat that so often? It's already been a few hours," she couldn't help but say, her patience reaching its limits.

First, Komuro-kun had gone out with that team of men to check on the final stereo, but not before she and Hirano-kun had started to argue over the effectiveness of their respective weapons, and now here she was accompanying the girl that was perhaps one of the most annoying people she'd ever met.

With all due respect to Miyamoto, while perfectly understandable for people to be emotional over these things, she felt this girl was a bit too ruled by her emotions and ended up coming across as needlessly whiny more often than not.

Not exactly a likeable trait in anyone if she had to say anything about it, especially not in a girl – it wasn't an attractive trait to have, but then perhaps that was her traditionalist upbringing talking.

"Come on, doesn't it seem suspicious to you too?!" Miyamoto asked of her as they overlooked the massive front yard from a balcony.

"…I'll admit it does seem off to me after what you and the others said occurred with that man, but even then…" Saeko began.

Only for Miyamoto to nearly bite her own thumb off in frustration. "Something's going on. That rat bastard has to be planning something!" she muttered.

Saeko merely raised an eyebrow.

She hadn't really been around when some of the others had met one Koiichi Shido, but from what she was able to pry from them, the male teacher wasn't exactly a popular man.

Having had a chance to observe him from up here when he'd come out to chat briefly with a few others momentarily, she could sort of see why – something about that man felt off.

Alas, the chatting had only lasted a moment so whatever else she could've possibly gleamed from observation was lost.

And as of an hour or so ago, some of the students that had arrived here with Shido could be seen helping as best as they could out there, everyone trying their best not to make too much of a racket lest it attract the zombies' attention.

Well, that aside for the moment…

"Why do you hate that man so much, Miyamoto-san?" Saeko decided to ask. "Of our group, you seem to hate him the most."

Miyamoto gritted her teeth as she seemed to recall something very unpleasant. For a second, Saeko thought the girl was going to let out a shrill whine, but to her surprise, Miyamoto closed her eyes and tried to calm herself down.

"…My parents are both into law enforcement," Miyamoto began. "Well, my mom used to, but after having me, she retired. Dad, though, he kept working and became an inspector. And one day last year, he was assigned with an investigation that revolved around a very shady and slimy politician… that bastard's dad."

"Ah…" Just like that, Saeko was immediately able to get a general picture of what must have happened. Nonetheless, she let the other girl continue.

"My dad investigated the guy and dug up a lot of dirt about the politician. But then just as it looked like he was about to bring that bastard politician down, the investigation was forcefully shut down – no doubt the guy pulled some strings to get it halted in its tracks." Miyamoto folded her arms under her ample breasts, her hands clenching her arms tightly. "Probably had some dirt on the chief of police or something…. But even though that should've been the end of things, Shido became aware of what was going on and it pissed him off. Since he couldn't do anything to help his shitty dad directly nor do anything directly against my dad, he took out his anger on me…"

"…By holding you back a year," Saeko finished up for her.

Miyamoto nodded. "Yep. And it wasn't enough to just do that – the bastard had the balls to tell me to stay behind after class to deliver the news to me personally and even rub it my face. Ha, he even said it was all my dad's and my own fault for looking into things that should've been left alone." Miyamoto let out a genuine growl. "Up until that point, I'd never really liked the guy. He'd always felt fake. But when that happened… I saw his mask crumble and got a long glimpse at his true self. He's a piece of shit through and through, the kind of scum that my parents used to lock up all the time and happily throw away the key after doing so, the kind of scum that deserved no mercy or sympathy from anyone."

"I see." This was all Saeko could say as she still digested what she just heard. "And now he's here, no doubt up to something just like you've been saying."

"Exactly! Guys like him, they revel in things like this. Hell, this whole zombie apocalypse thing might as well be a dream come true for him – no more rules keeping him in place. Long as no one's around to keep him in check, he's free to do practically whatever he wants. The thing is, what he wants to do is to rule. To stand above others for no other reason than just rub it in their faces and order them around."

"Well, he'd be hard-pressed to do that with the Takagis around, I'd say," Saeko commented. Having met with both of Takagi-san's parents a little while ago, after failing to accompany Komuro-kun on his little mission but before coming here alongside Miyamoto, Saeko could say with complete certainty that the people's faith in both Yuriko and Souichirou Takagi is well placed, especially in the latter who, to her surprise, revealed himself to have once been a student of her father.

And on that note…

Saeko gently hefted the blade Souichirou Takagi had pulled her aside to gift her with. It was a blade that had once been bequeathed to him by her father years ago but was now one he wished to give to her – as that man's daughter and a skilled swordswoman, it was something much more suited to her than him, Souichirou had said.

What had gone unsaid back then was that Souichirou Takagi was certain giving her this blade was necessary for some reason. He could've given her any other kind of blade, be it an actual sword or something else. But that he'd give her this sword in particular… it was a sign of some sort but Saeko could only guess as to what.

The only thing she could be sure of is that the otherwise unflappable man must feel something was greatly amiss. This wasn't something that put her at ease, but now that she's been entrusted with her father's old blade, it was up to her to live up to expectations.

"That won't stop him," Miyamoto said, her tone a mix between irritation and resignation. "He'll never challenge their authority directly – he's too cowardly for that. But he'll try and figure out a way to bring them down and then insert himself at the top during the confusion."

"You seem awfully knowledgeable about his tactics," Saeko couldn't help but comment.

"My parents used to discuss some of their older cases with me as I grew up. I'm not inspector material or anything, but I guess you can say I developed a sense for what the criminals they caught had to do to get to where they were. Plus, ever since Shido held me back, I made sure to observe him if I had a chance, if only from afar. Last thing I ever wanted was him trying to screw me over again…"

The swordswoman could only nod. If this man truly was so sinister and conniving, it made sense to keep track of his movements. In this respect, it wasn't unlike how a warrior tracks his foes' movements and reacts appropriately during combat.

But combat was one thing. This behind-the-veil stuff was another thing. Saeko was somewhat embarrassed to admit that her keen senses in combat wouldn't be very suited for this sort of thing.

In which case, all she could do was consult Miyamoto here.

"Then if he really would pose such a threat to everyone here, would do you suggest doing about him?" Saeko asked of the other girl. "Simply throwing him and his students out of here isn't going to happen without a justifiable reason for the others here, otherwise they may simply assume others will get thrown out for no good reason and fear they're next."

Miyamoto nodded in agreement. "We have to watch his students," she began. "That bastard knows he's not in the Takagis' good graces, so he's not going to do much on his own. Much as I'd love to keep watch over him directly and smack him around, it just won't work."

"That's a lot of people to watch still with just us. Even if we ask the others to help us here, there's still too many students under his command."

"We need to watch specific ones. As much as that guy likes causing trouble and chaos, he likes things orderly too – just his definition of orderly." Miyamoto's anger now subsided completely and the girl looked much more thoughtful and focused. She chewed on a nail as she contemplated something. "He'll have some kind of hierarchy going on, meaning certain students will have certain roles and therefore earn from him differing levels of trust."

Saeko felt herself momentarily blown away by what Miyamoto was saying. All this time, the girl has depicted herself as being a very emotional person, hotheaded and prone to mood swings. To see her speaking so calmly now and whilst making some very good points left the swordswoman amazed and silently reevaluated Miyamoto.

"Any idea of who in particular to watch?" she then asked.

"Definitely Tsunoda-."

"That boy's a complete thug."

Miyamoto shot her a flat look. "But he's also someone that stands out. Plus, out of the whole group, he's likely the best fighter they have and also likely the strongest physically. Even if he's just dumb muscle, he'll have a purpose – an enforcer, if nothing else."

Saeko stared at the girl and then eventually nodded, conceding to the point.

"…Probably that girl too. Miku Yuuki," Miyamoto then said. "She was in a few of my classes last year – she actually got pretty decent grades, even good grades in some cases, so she's not just some bimbo like what others think. Plus, well, she really is promiscuous, so…"

Saeko's mouth crinkled itself into a wry smile. "I see. Well, we women do have other ways of doing things. It's to be expected, I suppose. So, for sure those two?"

Miyamoto nodded. "I'm sure Shido is going to give those two special roles. Don't know if there's anyone else in that bunch he'd deem special, but if nothing else, those two will be his keys to power."

"Then I suppose we've a plan then – to watch those two," Saeko commented.

Miyamoto nodded. She then turned away from the view the balcony offered them to gaze at her, the look in her eyes nearly unreadable. "Busujima," she began. "Can I trust you to help me with this?"

That question gave Saeko genuine pause. Was Miyamoto aware of how she viewed her? Saeko liked to think she'd done a good job of keeping her opinion on the girl to herself, but perhaps a few things had somehow slipped through a bit.

Then again, while the two did remain relatively cordial to one another from the start, there always did seem to be a sort of unspoken tension between the two of them. Even when they'd teamed up against that 'tree' monster, where their lives had most definitely been on the line, the tension had felt present.

In which case, now was going to be perhaps the best time ever for the two of them to start putting that behind them. Regardless of what will happen to their group, they had to form a genuine truce here in order to move on.

"Yes, you can," Saeko answered as she stared back, her gaze unwavering.

The two held said gaze for a few seconds before Miyamoto smirked a bit and glanced away. "Thank you. Well then, how about we get started, eh?"

Saeko nodded and motioned for the other girl to lead the way. "Your idea, your plan of attack."

A bit of an overstatement, but an apt one nonetheless. One that Miyamoto understood and scoffed at, but in good humor.

Walking past Saeko without so much as a grunt as she straightened her still hurting back, she beckoned for the swordswoman to follow her.

She obliged and as she proceeded to catch up with her, Saeko realized she was smiling in light anticipation.

Perhaps this would make for an interesting change of pace. It would certainly help take her mind off the current situation, if nothing else.

And so, with the day still rather young, Saeko and Miyamoto proceeded onwards with their hastily formed plan.

* * *

Miku Yuuki was a girl that experienced just about every emotion to the fullest possible. Regardless if she was happy, angry, sad, or horny as hell, she made sure that just about the whole world knew it.

This made her an interesting girl to be around, her sexual appetite aside, of course. But in a moment of self-reflection, Miku realized this also made her potentially easy to understand.

And given just how nervous she was right now, this simply wouldn't do. It'd cause her to fail in her role and that would disappoint Shido-sensei greatly.

She didn't want that to happen, not after he'd saved her and the others on the bus. Sure, some of them had been kicked off to ensure the group's continued survival, but it had all been for the greater good! After all, she was one of the special ones!

She silently told herself this in an attempt to motivate herself. Special or not, it didn't mean shit if she couldn't live up to it.

But as she trekked to her destination, she slowly yet surely started to build up her confidence, slipping into what she liked to so simply dub her False Joy mode. The reason such a thing even existed is because every now and then before the world went to hell, some of the guys and girls she fucked simply… sucked. Seriously, it was as if they had no idea what sex even was until she snared them. But out of pity for them, she'd learned how to pretend that it'd been an enjoyable experience for her all the while making a mental note to avoid this guy or that girl again.

It was all a matter of schooling her expressions and body language, learning which emotions needed to be faked. It wasn't always an easy thing to do – again, she was a very emotional girl and those true emotions were hard to keep a lid on – but she pulled it off well enough that those shitty fuck buddies never caught on. Granted, they'd always been in the midst of enjoying themselves so that had helped, but still.

Now it was simply a matter of channeling that same 'mode' for the sake of this little assignment of hers.

"Hey there!" she called out cheerfully to the men in charge of operating and guarding the gate, the only thing keeping this entire place safe from those zombies roaming the streets outside. Getting their attention, she made a slight show of hefting up a large container for them to see, making sure to 'unintentionally' squeeze her huge breasts together in the process.

She saw some of them unconsciously look to her breasts first before catching themselves and looking instead to the container. This nearly made Miku smirk a bit, if only inwardly. The situation aside, it always thrilled her when she was able to enthrall others with her body. She was sexy and she knew it, with only a few of the female staff at Fujimi (damn that nurse!) completely outdoing her in the curves department.

"Hungry? I brought a lot of sandwiches…" she mumbled out, trying to sound helpful but shy, like one of those cooking club girls she once saw.

"Ah, thanks!" one of the men called out, eagerly approaching her. The others practically lit up as well and quickly walked up to join the other guy just as she set the container down and opened it up to reveal the delicious looking sandwiches inside.

A minute or two goes by as she passes them out, the men more than happy to sort of lean against the gate and wall to take a well-earned break.

As the container swiftly emptied, Miku inwardly gulped.

Now was the time.

"Thanks for working so hard," she began demurely. "Must be pretty nerve-wracking keeping an eye on the gate like this for so long."

There, a perfectly natural conversation starter. Always comment about work in some form or another and just watch and listen as people eagerly open up about how fun or hard it can be.

These guys proved to be no exception.

"Shoot, thanks miss! But damn, you hit it right on the head with that comment!" said the same guy that had first approached her, munching on his food with a big smile on his face. Must have been several hours or more since he last ate, it would seem. He lightly smacked the gate. "You'd think guarding and operating this would be easy, but it sure ain't sometimes."

"Tell me about it," mumbled another guy nearby. Miku silently dubbed this one Helmet Guy because he was the only one currently wearing one. "But it's gotta get down though."

"Doesn't make it any less frustrating sometimes…" said the first guy, Smiley, Miku decided to call him.

"Why's that?" she decided to ask, genuinely curious. Plus, this was what Shido-sensei wanted to know too as part of the plan.

"Well, before the gate here was electronically operated, so there was no hassle there, but with the power out, we have to do it manually. Thankfully, opening and closing it is as easy as pulling some levers, but because we've gotten so used to the electronic stuff, the parts the manual system rely on are a little worn down." A third guy was the one to answer her question. "We're pulling triple duty here – operating the gate, guarding it, and now maintaining it."

"More like repairing it, really," said Helmet Guy. "Some of the parts are really worn down, so they need to be outright replaced, but we have the replacements, so no biggie there. The real hassle is that it's not as if these parts are easy to reach; we have to strip away other parts that are in the way in order to find and replace the ones that need it, which really takes time."

"And a lot of patience," muttered Smiley. "We do this too fast and we risk getting sloppy. Not exactly a good thing for everyone if that happens."

"W-Will everything turn out okay?" Miku asked in genuine worry. Inwardly, she was feeling quite pleased. She'd thought this would be a bit tougher but to her relief, she was already getting the info she needed without much nudging on her part. Not to mention with little faking on her part beyond the shy and nearly chaste guise she was putting up.

Smiley chuckled. "Don't worry, miss, we got this. Once the last team returns, we'll be closing the gates pretty much indefinitely – which is to say, until we get it fully fixed. Shouldn't take too long but it still could be a few days depending on how things turn out. Plus, of course, we have to make sure not to make too much noise during our work, otherwise it'll just get those damned undeads' attention."

"Which isn't really something to worry about _that_ much," spoke the third guy in a hasty tone upon seeing Miku's expression grow very worried. "These walls are thick and made with reinforced materials, gate included, of course. There's no way they're going to bust through. But having them roaring and shit would only make us all feel even more nervous and that just wouldn't be fair to everyone here if we made that big a racket."

"O-Oh, okay. That's good to hear," Miku replied in relief, pressing a hand against her chest just hard enough to make a breast nearly pop out of the slightly lowcut cleavage the shirt had. She watched out of the corner of her eyes for their reaction and once again was pleased. She had them in the palm of her hands. Surely, offering a suggestion or two now while their attention was a bit too much on her body would be possible, right?

"Uhm… you said it might be a few days to fully check out and fix the gate, maybe even longer… is it because the whole process is complicated or it is just a matter of not having enough guys?"

"Eh, more along the lines of the latter," answered Smiley. "I know we have about ten guys here, but we have rotating shifts between inspecting and actually operating the gate in case things go wrong and whatnot, so it's really only a few of us that do the looking and repairing. As far as the actual repairing and replacing goes, it's not too complex really, just a matter of shifting stuff around. It's really just extra hands we need to hold the undamaged parts we take out, otherwise we'll be forced to make a neat little pile that could take who knows how long to form and later put back afterwards."

Miku tried not to smile too victoriously. "Well, if it's manpower you need, I think I can ask some guys who can help. I-If you want, though…"

The guys looked at her, somewhat troubled. For a second, Miku thought she fucked up somehow until they spoke up. "We wouldn't want to impose, miss… not on you or your friends."

Miku quickly shook her head. "It'd be no bother at all! With the power out still, they're getting kind of antsy anyways… having something to do – anything at all – would help take their minds off things, you know?"

"Well, if that's really the case, then we wouldn't mind the help," Helmet Guy said with a small but thankful smile.

Miku returned the smile. "I'll go get them right away then! A-Ah, but first let me clean up here…" she said as she once more put on the demure act a bit more thoroughly, picking up the crumbled napkins that had been provided along with the sandwiches.

After doing so, she stood and bowed shyly before walking away, trying not to do so too hurriedly.

It had worked pretty well – Shido-sensei's plan, that is.

When he'd pulled her and Tsunoda aside, he'd confided to them and only them that he was certain simply having the others go around trying to dig up some dirt on the Takagis wasn't going to work. Smearing their reputation enough to force a takeover wouldn't be in the cards as they were at the time.

So, what he had suggested was instead creating a situation in which the Takagis would come across as failures and then use the anger of the other survivors here at that time to call for them to step down. To accomplish this, he had requested for her to chat with the workers at the gate about how it operated so that it could later be sabotaged.

Now that she's gotten the necessary information, once she reports back to Shido-sensei, he'll most likely have the helpers they'll later send do something to the gate to make it open a bit… and that'll be when Tsunoda's role comes in…

Shido-sensei had only given her and the delinquent a general gist of the plan but Miku was able to fill in the gaps for herself at that point. She'd easily admit that it was pretty dangerous – there was just no telling how many of those zombies would come running when it happened, after all – and could easily result in a good number of deaths when it happened. Yet at the same time, it filled her with a great deal of delight and anticipation.

"Soon…" she whispered to herself as she picked up her walking pace a bit.

Soon it'll be Shido-sensei's time to rule here.

And when it comes, he'll undoubtedly show everyone else here the way, just like he'd shone her and the others.

She couldn't wait.

* * *

 **This chapter was just a bit shorter than the others and not quite as eventful, I admit, but as you can see it sets up quite a bit in the very near future.**

 **From the very start, it was never my intention to have the group stay all that long at the Takagis' home even if recent chapters may have suggested otherwise and this chapter more or less marks the countdown to their leaving. I hope you will enjoy how said leaving will occur.**

 **Now then, on another note: Rei. Not going to lie, she's easily my least favorite character in HOTD. I don't outright dislike her but to that same token, I don't really like her either. She's certainly a good fighter but not quite Saeko level nor does her skillset branch out all that much beyond sojutsu. Sure, she used a baton and even a gun at one point or two in the manga but it wasn't as if they were gamechangers. Plus, her whining, especially in the beginning of the manga, was irritating as hell.**

 **To be frank, I'm more disappointed than anything when it comes to her, especially regarding her family background. Both parents are part of law enforcement (well, her mom used to be) and years ago when I first came across HOTD, I'd been expecting a bit more out of this fact from her, only for it to not happen. So, I decided to do something about it by making her just a bit more observational, perceptive, and logical.**

 **She's not and will never be some kind of detective prodigy ala Naoto from Persona 4, but during the times she's not being emotional, you can expect what I hope is an appreciative level of strategical insight. That said, Saya will remain the brains behind the group's actions.**

 **On this note, please let me know what you think of the changes made to Rei as well as the hints of Shido's plans in this chapter – always happy to hear what you guys have to say and use it to improve!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	9. Chapter 9

Allow me to start off with a brief note: following the posting of chapter 10 for this fic, I will resume writing for my personal novel, well, the 3rd book of the trilogy anyways. What that'll mean for me is that I'll be alternating chapters for both the novel and this fic – one chapter for the novel, then one chapter for this fic, then the novel again, fic, etc.

As far as updates go for this fic, the resumption of my novel will push future chapters by maybe a week or two. Usually, when it comes to my novel, I'm pretty quick at getting chapters done for it since said chapters tend to be fairly brief for the most part but I can't make any guarantees as of now. So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, this will be my plan going forward. Again, this will only start AFTER chapter 10 is posted so that's still a few weeks away depending on how long it takes me to get that chapter done.

Thank you guys in advance for understanding.

Now then, about the last chapter, glad you guys liked it! And to theDarkHollow, I can say without spoiling anything that the group won't be directly combatting the sea monster mentioned in chapter 7 – as you pointed out, it's far too big and too strong for anything to be done about it.

While on that note, let me try to break up the monsters into a few categories – first, you have the street level ones, those that are still very much superhuman by our standards but can be killed with enough conventional firepower (the 'dog,' the 'tree' monster and the wickerman-esque one fall into this category).

Second category would be larger scale monsters, which have yet to be officially revealed. These monsters are pretty much immune to gunfire and have physical abilities and other powers in general that place them well above the first category. They can be brought down with heavy artillery – missiles, heavy cannons, that kind of stuff – but it still takes a lot to slay them. The flying monster briefly mentioned as Takashi, Hisashi and Rei ran down the outside stairs is of this group.

Then there's the third category of monsters, those that are truly beyond the scope of humanity's abilities to deal with. The massive sea monster that pretty much wasted half of the US is naturally of this group. There are a few other monsters that do fall into this category but have yet to be revealed…

Heh, well, let myself drone on a bit there. Not like it really spoils anything though. And in any case, I do hope the info was interesting for you guys.

Now then, onto the chapter!

Chapter 9

Tsunoda inwardly gulped. The delinquent had to do his best to not sweat too but found this pretty hard to do. It wasn't as if he could control his own body to that extent, after all.

It's been hours since the plan Shido-sensei implemented, starting first with Miku, and now it was time for him to go and do his part.

A part of him was feeling giddy over this – how could he not when he would help sow the seeds of the Takagis' downfall?! – but there was another part of him that was naturally pretty scared.

After all, when one really strips away all the bravado and shit, he was basically bait.

After Miku had gone and gotten the info Shido-sensei needed, some of the other students had been sent to back those gate workers up and had made sure to discreetly discard a few of the pieces removed from the gate mechanisms as they worked.

To be it in far fewer words, they'd sabotaged the gate.

All that had to be done now was for him to simply go there under the pretense of wanting to see how the gate works for himself so that 'he could be of some help in the future' as Shido-sensei told him to say if asked and then 'accidentally' trigger the gate to open. He'd then scream in a slight panic and lure the zombies right outside after him.

…Yeah, that did sound pretty damn scary now that he thought of it as he kept on walking. Supposedly, whatever his fellow special students did to the gate would only cause it to open up just enough to let in a few zombies one at a time but he had no guarantee here. It wasn't as if the guys were experts on the mechanisms behind the damned thing.

But hey, if the plan does go tits up and more zombies than they'd wanted slip in, at least it'll spice things up a bit – this whole place felt stifling what with a lot of the other survivors acting so fucking paranoid. And regardless of what happened to him, at least Shido-sensei will be able to force the Takagis off their high horse and take up the leadership position like he was meant to.

And when that happens…

Tsunoda found himself smiling despite his failing nerves. The thought of being so useful to Shido-sensei's plan made him feel unusually good, gave him just a bit of extra confidence.

He better get a move on then, before he starts losing his nerve again.

Besides… it was getting dark. If anything, he'd like to avoid having to run around when it was night.

Time to get this show started.

Tsunoda's pace towards the gate picked up.

* * *

"So, it was all for nothing, huh?"

"Mhm. Kind of figured as much from the get-go," Takashi said to Hay- _Kyouko_ , who'd asked him that previous question. "Only good thing that came out of it was salvaging the parts from the equipment . Sure, power's out but maybe the parts could help some other way… right?"

Kyouko folded her arms under her hefty breasts – Takashi had to avert his eyes slightly – and nodded in reluctant understanding.

The teacher wasn't the only one looking this way – the others sans Rei and Saeko had gathered up for a bit of a late dinner to share info about what had occurred today.

Given the state of affairs here at the mansion, not much had really changed since the morning so it'd fallen to Takashi to pretty much keep them all entertained and up to date with his little trip.

But by the end of his tale, they hardly looked entertained. No, they were more along the lines of contemplative if anything.

"Uhm, so then what will happen to the power…?" asked a nervous Alice, hugging Zeke tightly. Even the dog looked a little perturbed, once again seemingly understanding what was being spoken to some degree.

"It means it likely won't be coming back on," Saya said from where she sat, having finished her food first. "At least, not by our hands."

"You think it'll come back on though, Takagi-san?" Hirano asked the pinkette.

"Maybe, fatty, maybe. The reason behind the power outage is still unknown and with all the things we've seen so far, it honestly wouldn't surprise me if the power does come back on eventually." Saya huffed. "But regardless if it does or not, we're still in a serious predicament here. Two predicaments, actually."

"And those would be…?" Shizuka asked as she was about to take a drink of her soda, only for an ice cube in the cup to somehow slip out and fall into the massive valley that was her cleavage. She let a quiet yet still shrill whine as the coldness of the cube hit her instantly.

Saya paid this no mind and continued whilst Takashi could only distractedly stare in amazement at Shizuka's flailing to get the ice cube out.

Jesus Christ, those breasts looked so soft…!

"First and foremost, we still need to officially decide what we'll be doing from here," Saya said, grabbing everyone's attention. "I know we've discussed this earlier before the power outage but minds could've changed since then. We need to hash things out ASAP."

She sighed. "Secondly… our little night visitor last night." She looked directly at Takashi as she said this.

And just like that, Takashi's attention shifted from Shizuka to his childhood friend, the tired teen feeling his mind becoming oddly blank.

Right, he'd forgotten that had only occurred last night. Amazing how time seemed to feel so brief to him now, as if what he'd seen had occurred weeks ago instead of barely a whole day ago.

"A-Ah…"

"That's right…"

"I-Is it still around?"

Kyouko, Hirano and Alice pretty much commented in some form near simultaneously. Of the three, the latter was the only one to ask an actual question, so Takashi responded to her first.

"Not that I can tell. I mean, I don't sense anything right now," he answered truthfully.

"Nothing at all?" Saya asked him.

"Nothing at all," he reiterated.

"Hmph, well papa's already tightened security so if it does make an appearance tonight, they'll hopefully see it coming."

"Without any sources of light?" asked a disbelieving Kyouko.

"A lot of the men that work for my parents are ex-JSDF or have somewhat… colored backgrounds. They've experience in hunting in the middle of the night, so they've developed pretty keen night vision, at least compared to a lot of us. They're hardly all-seeing but they'll definitely be able to spot movement if large enough… and if the other monsters we've seen so far are any indication, this one probably will be at the very least human-sized."

Kyouko nodded and accepted the explanation gracefully. Takashi could see the others being put at ease too.

But not himself, though. No, now that Saya went and brought up that thing, he was suddenly feeling unsure.

Would it really be that simple? Considering this thing was able to sneak in, kill those two girls and then leave without anyone save for him noticing, Takashi wasn't too confident in their odds… and that had been with a lot of the lights on inside this place.

Total darkness? He wasn't liking the odds at all. But what the hell could he even remotely do about it? Not like he could pinpoint exactly where it'd be at if it did show up.

…

…

Takashi narrowed his eyes dangerously before standing up.

Speak of the fucking devil…

"Komuro?" He could hear Hirano vaguely call out to him but his fellow male might as well have been whispering his name from the next room over; Takashi was just barely able to even hear him.

"T-Takashi onii-chan?" Alice then asked, sounding equally distant to him.

It wasn't that the two of them were suddenly moved far away from him, it was just that his focus was so completely elsewhere now that it only felt that way.

And how could he not be this way.

After all-.

"It's here!" he muttered harshly.

He just barely saw the way everyone there leapt out of their seats, empty plates clattering to the floor with reckless abandon.

"Where?" Saya's voice, unlike the others, cut through the figurative distance to him through sheer force of emotion alone.

Even though the sensation he picked up when the thing was around was too vague to pinpoint a location, Takashi knew Saya wasn't going to accept that as an answer again, so this time he made it a point to focus.

To his mild surprise, he found himself succeeding now that he wasn't in as much of a rush to get somewhere.

"…It's coming from just beyond the gate," he mumbled.

Outside the gate? That felt too straightforward for some reason. Still, at least he could locate it if he tried apparently.

"Let's go," Saya then said. "We're going to see this thing with our own damned eyes!"

"E-Eh but isn't that dangerous?!" Shizuka asked in evident worry.

"What makes you think we'll be going on our lonesome," Saya wryly replied. "Hey fatty, help me round up some of the guards. You, idiot, keep track of that thing! Don't you dare lose focus! And if it starts moving elsewhere fast, you scream and I don't care how loud you do so!"

The way Saya barked these orders caused the others to flinch for a brief moment before hustling into action.

As for Takashi, he merely smiled dryly.

If nothing else, he'd kind of miss the girl's lectures if they do split up.

But all that said…

Again, why the front gate?

* * *

Saeko will admit that the darker side of herself relished the look in Tsunoda's eyes when she suddenly stepped out of the ever-growing shadows. It reminded her ever so slightly of the look her would-be attacker had in his eyes right before she really gave it to him with her wooden sword back then.

But unlike that time, she had a real blade now, which she currently had drawn and rested against the side of Tsunoda's neck. This was the reason why the delinquent didn't scream out at her sudden appearance.

However, his shock and even fear swiftly gave way to blood-curdling anger. It rather impressed Saeko, if only because it was uncommon for anyone to exhibit such immense levels of rage.

"You sword bitch! What do you think you're doing?!" he demanded.

"I ought to be asking you that," she said as she extended her arm just a centimeter more, causing the blade to nearly cut into the skin. "But then… perhaps I don't have to. After all, I already know about your intentions."

The teen had shut up at her action just now, prompting fear and anger to mix in equal amounts, only for her words to prompt confusion to enter that mix now. "The fuck you-?"

"Your fellow students did something to the gate, didn't they?"

The way his eyes widened so comically was more of an answer than any amount of words could ever be. Really now, this guy was chosen to do this? Saeko found herself silently questioning Shido's reasoning for picking this guy, Miyamoto's explanation earlier notwithstanding.

"What you intended to do would've potentially put the entire mansion and others at great risk. By all rights, I should cut you down right now… but I believe taking you and those other students before the Takagis for proper judgement would be best. Any last words before I do so?" Saeko decided to say.

A part of her, that same darker part of her that was denied proper enjoyment against that 'tree' monster the other day, really wanted to drag this out, make this punk suffer for her amusement… but she was able to resist giving into these urges. From the very start, Miyamoto had intended to give the Takagis reason enough to throw Shido and his group out and now here was just that opportunity. Therefore, she couldn't afford to let this situation carry on any longer than this.

So just when it looked like Tsunoda was going to actually offer up some last words, Saeko withdrew her blade just enough to reverse her grip on it and ram the pommel directly into the delinquent's sides. It knocked the air right out of him and therefore kept him from speaking.

It'd been a smart move on her part, actually, for it looked as if he'd really been about to yell just now.

"Move," she commanded. She made sure to twist him around so that his back was to her now and she switched grips yet again so that the blade poked into the small of his back. "And do keep quiet. The last thing we need is a horde forming outside the gates."

The teen growled but complied with her command, the fighting spirit snuffed out of him. But Saeko knew this wasn't permanent. Hotheaded this guy may be, he wasn't _that_ stupid. But should she take her eyes off him for even a full second, she suspected he'd try something, if only to satisfy his now obvious lust for revenge.

That said, Saeko did her best to try and remain aware of the area behind her. There was no telling if Shido had merely sent this delinquent as a decoy so that another person could try and open the gate just a bit.

Sensing nothing out of the ordinary, Saeko proceeded to redirect all her focus on Tsunoda again as she kept him walking forth at a decent pace.

The sun had almost completely lowered in the vast distance. Dusk was officially here and night was rapidly approaching.

She hurried their pace along. With the power out still, being stuck out here when it gets too dark wouldn't be a good idea, even if her only immediate worry was Tsunoda. Nonetheless, something was starting to feel off to her, the intuition honed by her years of training telling her that something was amiss.

But what could possibly even be-?

Saeko froze as did Tsunoda, the two united in that brief moment by pure shock.

They could hear the gate opening behind them.

* * *

The wickerman-like monster, still in its fog-like form, was most pleased with itself.

With dusk now here, it could afford to manifest now and had done so just several yards outside of the gate that everyone here thought protected them. It had done this with the full knowledge that the boy would sense it and would likely come running with some others to check things out.

And sure enough, it could somehow feel the boy coming along with some others.

That had been when it had proceeded with the next step of its little plan.

After the boy had returned here from his trip to that mansion, the monster had followed suit, using the shadows to flit its way back here… where it had then witnessed several humans working on the gate's mechanisms. It had seen some of the humans, teenagers, deliberately set aside parts that surely must have been important while also slipping in some minor things, just random objects really, that would surely cause some of the other pieces to lock up once the gate opened to a certain point.

The monster knew not why those teens had done such a thing but it had gleefully decided to use this for its own purposes.

After having used its initial manifestation as a beacon for the teen to lock onto, it had then partially transformed itself back into its fog form, which then traveled silently over the gate and into the panel the humans had removed to work on it, its fog form just then thickening enough in order to move the contraptions.

The gate was now open. Not by that much but plenty enough to suit its purposes.

The monster had reached out into the nearly blank minds of the undead nearby and had issued a most simple command, the only command that it was really capable of.

 _Come._

And come they did. Nearly a dozen of these zombies, their bodies decaying more and more by the day obeyed its command, drawing closer just a bit faster as the normally quiet sound of the gate opening all but echoed throughout the night sky.

Mild moans and groans slowly began to gave way to feral snarls and low howls as the zombies instinctively understood what the sound meant.

Were it capable of smiling, the monster would be doing so.

These undead should prove to be a useful distraction for it. With any luck, it'll instill panic in everyone here and make their emotions taste all the sweeter for it to feast on.

It fully transformed back into its fog form and slipped through the now slightly open gate, blending with the shadows instantly to avoid visual detection.

Behind it, the now loud shrieks of the undead quickly followed.

* * *

"What the-?!" Those had been the first words out of Rei's mouth as she watched from afar what was happening.

Earlier in the day, she and Busujima had taken to watching Tsunoda and Miku as best as they could and from simple observation alone had managed to get a rough idea of what those two had been up to.

Well, what Shido had been up to would be more accurate.

Anyways, she'd requested Busujima to go and wait for Tsunoda when the teen tried to open the gate and sure enough, that's exactly what happened. Thankfully, Busujima had stopped him before he could get that close to the gate, bereft of any guards and workers since they'd all decided to take just a brief break from their duties to eat.

Lying on her stomach on the balconey she'd been on earlier, Rei held a makeshift spear by her side, watching intently on the off chance someone tried to sneak around and open the gate in Tsunoda's place. The idea behind this was that if someone else did come by while Busujima walked Tsunoda away, she could throw her spear like a javelin and hit the target. She had decent aim and would save her the time and potential trouble of yelling out to her ally in this little operation.

But to her surprise, the gate had suddenly started to open entirely on its own.

And the undead, somehow, were quick to realize this and come rushing through.

So shocked by this turn of events that all Rei could do was watch as the first of the undead, what had once been a man that apparently was a construction worker, came charging through the small opening the gate provided.

It roared so loudly that even from up here, it sounded as if the zombie was just several feet away from her.

She watched as Busujima pushed Tsunoda down before turning quickly to meet the incoming undead. With one elegant movement, Busujima swung her blade and succeeded in decapitating it, blood just slightly spilling from the cut.

But that had been when more zombies started to pour through one at a time, all of them howling in all-consuming rage as the sound of their undead brethren confirmed that there are some targets here.

This in turn quickly inspired plenty of people inside the mansion, having undoubtedly heard the roars of the undead, to audibly panic even from here.

The once peaceful haven had now erupted into a cacophony of pure noise, consisting entirely of screams.

It spurred the stunned Rei into action finally, the girl all but throwing herself off the ground and back onto her feet. This motion caused just a bit of pain to flare up in her back but the adrenaline now coursing through her proved enough to keep her from noticing it much.

As she turned and started to run in order to go assist Busujima, the very last thing Rei ended up seeing in her periphery vision was a small group of people already running across the Takagis' massive lawn to 'greet' the undead.

And she recognized the one running near the front of the group in an instant.

"Takashi…!"

What in the world was he thinking?!

* * *

"What was I thinking?!" Takashi mumbled to himself, running with gun in hand.

Following the detection of that monster and Saya's orders, he'd pretty much started to move on autopilot and before he knew it, here he was running alongside a veritable platoon of men armed with guns to greet the intruder.

Or rather, intruders.

Just half a minute ago, the sensation he felt when that monster was near disappeared, which would've seemed to have rendered their actions kind of moot… until they heard the zombies' shrieking from within the estate's grounds.

He didn't know how the fuck that happened but at least he had a reason to keep running alongside these guys towards the front gate.

And if nothing else, the man dashing just a bit ahead of him inspired just a bit of extra confidence in him.

"Can you still detect that monster?" roared Souichirou Takagi, all attempts to stay quiet lost as the zombies came into view.

"No! It practically just disappeared!" he exclaimed back in between breaths. "But it looks like it left us some presents!"

"I'm afraid I don't quite like these gifts!" the man of the house stated quite seriously. "Open fire!"

The men and women that had gathered with them obeyed in an instant, some of them coming to a stop in order to take up a proper stance and started shooting. Those armed with smaller guns kept on running as they began to shoot.

As for Takashi, he kept on running as did Souichirou. Although armed with a gun, the same one from earlier, he didn't trust his own skills enough to kill these things from afar in one shot. He'd have to get up close to do that, crazy as that sounded.

He narrowed his eyes slightly in confusion as he saw Saeko and Tsunoda make a run for it not too far away from where the zombies poured in from. Well, Tsunoda was running, Saeko on the other hand was staying her ground.

One after another, zombies came charging at her and one after another, she put them, twisting and weaving in between them as she would then use the momentum gained from her movements to swing her blade and cut their heads off.

It was a beautiful sight, really, the way she moved so elegantly, so quickly, so fiercely. Her sword skills had been going to waste before all this went to hell, if Takashi could be allowed to think that way.

"Prepare yourself!" Souichirou then called out to him.

The gunfire the others around them provided as cover had naturally drawn the zombies' attention in their general direction. Now several were running their way.

Takashi and Souichirou came to a near halt as the zombies screamed in unbridled rage and charged at them.

Remembering the tips those guys from earlier and Hirano had given him, Takashi finally switched the safety off and took aim with the handgun. Taking a deep breath like it might be his last, he opened fire.

He pulled the trigger three times in rapid succession.

The first shot struck a fat zombie in the center of the chest while the second shot hit just a bit more to the right. The final shot struck upwards, a bit closer to the throat but would've hardly been a killing blow even on an actual person.

The zombie recoiled slightly from the shots but resumed its surprisingly fast charge, massive arms outstretched and ready to grab him.

Alarmed by this but not outwardly fazed, Takashi simply adjusted his aim as his target neared and fired two more shots.

Both struck the zombie's forehead and it went down, its hunger for violence and flesh instantly extinguished.

But of course, there were plenty more zombies to take this one's place and Takashi had no choice but to fire off the rest of the bullets he had.

To his own mild surprise, some of the shots managed to land a killshot while the rest merely resulted in wounds in the others' already decaying bodies.

However, for those that didn't die from his shots, it screwed with their balance just enough to make them slow down a step… and that was all Souichirou needed to then rush forward, blade in hand.

Takashi watched in amazement as the Takagi patriarch let loose a roar that would've made a lion proud and swiftly cut down three zombies in rapid succession, moving with a speed not quite suited to one of his build. He attacked with such ferocity and strength that even though the blood in the zombies' bodies was coagulated and obviously wouldn't be gushing out ended up spilling forth by the bucket loads anyways.

The gunfire continued without end, with only marginal lulls as some of the people here paused for a split second to reload.

And all the while, more and more zombies managed to squeeze their way through the partially open gate.

"Some are going for the mansion!" someone yelled.

"You two, go and guard the front! Don't let any of them in! Barricade yourselves if you have to!"

"More incoming!"

"Watch out for that one, it's quicker than the others!"

"They're trying to climb over one another now!"

One after another, comments were made by Souichirou and his forces, all of them remaining surprisingly calm and in control of themselves despite the sheer intensity of their words and actions.

It was enough to make Takashi once more question why he'd come out here now since it seemed like they would soon get things under control. As things stood, he'd already gone through his ammo and it wasn't as if he'd made a note to grab some more prior to running out here.

He might as well be defenseless-.

"Look out!" someone called out to him.

An instant afterwards, Takashi heard something approach from his left. He put up a guard just in the nick of time to dampen the pain just as a zombie tackled him.

Him and his attacker still ended up tumbling to the ground and rolled around before Takashi finally ended up on his back while the zombie all but straddled him.

Takashi couldn't help but grunt under the literal dead weight of the zombie. It had once been a guy, possibly mid-20s, and although the two of them looked to be around the same height, the former guy must have been a serious fitness buff or something because this zombie had at least a solid 70 pounds on him, even with chunks of his shoulders and stomach outright missing.

It roared as it then brought its head down, clearly intending to take a bite out of him. But on instinct, Takashi punched it as hard as he could in the throat, crushing the Adam's apple with ease. The zombie's head ended up awkwardly lurching forward and then back, a weak gurgling sound escaping its mouth before resuming its previous action.

Takashi managed to reach out with his hand and grab it by the top of its head, keeping it just slightly at bay. The zombie thrashed around, trying to slip out of his grip but Takashi lashed out with his other hand and jabbed a finger into its left eye with the hopes of potentially poking the brain.

Blood and what looked like pus for some reason spilled out of the socket after he removed his finger and Takashi had to close his eyes and mouth to avoid it getting inside him.

That was when the zombie suddenly lurched back and actually launched a proper attack at him – a wild punch that connected with his right cheek, making him see stars for just a split second.

It tried going for a bite again but Takashi used its shifted posture to roll over, throwing the zombie off him, only for it to go crawling like a madman towards him while he tried to stand up.

Seeing it glare at him with its remaining nearly blind eye, Takashi nearly froze, if only because he felt oddly captivated by the odd intensity of rage within it. But he nonetheless was able to get up and skip backwards to avoid being grabbed by the legs.

For a split second, he wondered why no one had bothered helping him, only to then take a quick look around and see more and more zombies heading for them all as they obviously were making the most noise and from much closer by than those screaming from within the mansion.

He really should've figured as much, he supposed.

In any case, the pale muscular zombie was back on its feet and lunging for him, clearly intent on doing him in and no one else, it seemed.

With little room to maneuver lest he expose himself to other zombies or get caught up in the crossfire in general, Takashi was left with no choice but to sidestep ever so slightly and kick the undead's feet out as it passed.

The zombie went tumbling for a second before getting back up and charging for him again before outright leaping at him.

Shock couldn't even begin to explain Takashi's current emotional state over the actions this particular zombie had been taking so far. It was as if this one was somehow actually learning.

"Urgh!" Nonetheless, this was no time to let himself get caught up in his thoughts. Left with no other choice, at least none that he could think of, Takashi ran forward and tackled the zombie while it was still in midair.

Takashi, grunting under the weight he was now holding onto, kept on running until the two of them slammed into a nearby tree. Both naturally recoiled from the impact but it was only him who was hurt from it.

The zombie, on the other hand, lashed out with several vicious punches that slammed against his face and chest before going for a bite.

The blows disoriented Takashi but he was able to respond and kick in the side of the zombie's left knee, making it jerk and fall.

He took the time to back up, his heart beating several miles a minute. All around him, the sounds of gunfire and blood-curdling shrieks continued. Seems Souichirou and his forces were still trying to make their way towards the gate without much success.

Although faint, he could hear more zombies from the surrounding area scream in battle lust, a veritable stampede coming their way.

Shit was going south at the speed of light, it felt like. If nothing was done soon, they'd all be well and truly fucked.

The zombie was back on its feet now and howled in what seemed like challenge. And now Takashi could hear a few more slipping past the others and coming for him.

Not liking his odds anymore than before, he had no choice but to run now.

So run, he did, heading for the path leading around the mansion and towards the backyard. There was more stuff there than up front, so maybe he could find a weapon to fight these damned things off.

But just as he started doing so, that now familiar sensation returned.

The monster was back.

…It was inside the mansion.

* * *

Saya was not a fighter. Never was, never will be. So naturally, she hung back while that idiot Takashi went running out with her dad and some others to go greet that monster… only for her to now end up hearing far more zombies than she was comfortable with hearing within her family's grounds.

Needless to say, it had taken her more than by surprise but the past few days had done wonders for honing her synapses.

She wasted no time in going around, barking out orders to her family's men and other survivors alike, swiftly helping in forming barricades around every possible exit on the ground floor. Windows were swiftly covered up save for a few in order for some of the men to shoot through if it came down to it.

Her mother was naturally doing the same but on the upper floors. Although the chances of the undead getting through the windows on the second and third floor were pretty much nonexistent, her mom wasn't taking chances and had gone to personally see to this issue along with the help of others.

All the while, the sounds of battle outside grew ever more intense, the moaning and malicious yells of the zombies pretty much constant now.

Just how many were even out there now? Hell, how did they even get in?!

Definitely couldn't have been some freak accident. It would've had to have been deliberate – sabotage, in other words. She trusted the people that worked with her parents with her life, naturally ruling them out.

Meaning it could've only been one or more of the survivors. And only one particular group was coming to mind.

"Shido…" she growled out.

Before, she'd been more than content to ignore the man, having deemed him too sniveling and pathetic a person to ever deal with, the little incident between him and Rei notwithstanding.

Now though? She was feeling tempted to feed him to those zombies outside directly!

"Takagi-san, they just finished blocking the back doors!" Kohta huffed out, having been forced to stay behind by her to aid her. Initially, he'd wanted to go aid Takashi and the others but she made sure he stayed behind.

Like hell she was going to let this gun geek get himself killed out there. Crack shot or not, he wasn't fast on his feet. He'd have been overwhelmed in an instant.

Which sort of made it funny, if only slightly, that she would then have him literally run around with her to get all this stuff done.

"Good. How about Rei?" she asked of him.

"She's helping to light the candles like you said," Kohta replied. "Uhm, Alice-chan and Shizuka are helping her."

Saya grimaced slightly, but let things slide.

When they all first heard the zombies on the estate grounds, Saya saw Rei running down the stairs, the girl evidently about to head outside for some reason. What that reason was exactly, Saya didn't really give the girl a chance to explain and had roped her into helping out in here.

As for Alice and Shizuka and Hayashi-sensei, Saya had told the former to go and hide in a safe room along with the other children and elderly whilst telling the latter two to help with the barricading situation.

It would seem those three decided to help Rei out instead. Not necessarily a bad thing but Saya never really liked it much when people did things differently when she outright ordered otherwise.

…Oh well, at least they're being useful somewhat. With the power out and even simple things like flashlights out, candles would have to make do as sources of light. Thankfully, they had plenty of candles to spare even if they all had never foreseen them being used.

"So, uh, what now?" Kohta asked of her, sounding nervous as the sounds of fighting continued. There was screaming going on out there now, screams of pain and death… looks like some of the men out there were dying. Naturally, Kohta was far from comforted by this.

Same thing goes for Saya. She worried greatly for her dad as well as the others – she practically knew them all her life, after all. But she tried not to let it get to her. She had to stay in control of herself.

"We need to hunt down and lock up a certain rat," she muttered in response as she walked down the scarcely lit hallway, the candles just barely providing enough light to see where she was going.

"…Shido?" Kohta guessed.

"Shido." Saya almost smiled at his guess. Seems even the porker knew how much of slimeball that guy was.

"Then shouldn't we be going up to the second floor, where he's likely at?"

"Throwing him into a room and locking him in won't do. We'll need to get some of the others with him too." Such as a certain infamous slut…. And she knew where she was at too.

Earlier, she'd seen Miku Yuuki along with another student or two heading for a small storage room at the end of this hallway, having been tasked with carrying out supplies in order to use them in constructing sturdy barricades. Saya knew this because she'd been the one to give them the order while pretending to not pay too much attention to who she was saying this to.

It'd been a ruse though, a way of trying to isolate Miku and those other students away from the rest of the people in the mansion so that she could corner that bitch. And Kohta here, whether or not he even realized it at this point, was carrying a gun with him, an assault rifle from what little she could tell of it – she wasn't a gun geek like him, so that was really as far as she could tell about it. In any case, she planned to hold her at gun point and bluff her into confessing if needed.

Surely, Miku knew something about this and Saya intended to use that info to get her parents to potentially throw Shido and his cronies out when all was said and done. If not that, then at least get him as isolated as possible from the rest of his little posse.

Half a moment later, the two of them started to near the storage room – sometimes, Saya disliked how large this mansion was, took too long just to get to one room – and as they neared, what little confidence Saya had to started to feel in her actions dwindled.

The air here… it felt disturbed, somehow.

"Porker…" she started to murmur.

But she needn't have bothered. Kohta stepped ahead of her, taking point. The nervous expression on his face was gone and was replaced with one of absolute focus, the only remaining indication of his worry being a small bead of sweat forming on the side of his forehead. If someone came at them right now and proved to be truly hostile, Kohta would mow them down without an ounce of hesitation or surprise.

It was honestly impressive, not that she'd ever tell him that – would probably make him all stupidly happy and whatnot.

The two approached the storage room slowly, only to outright pause when they saw a blood trail leading up to the door, which was somewhat ajar.

What greeted them inside the storage room as they opened it completely nearly made them hurl.

One of the male students she'd ordered to run back and forth from here was slumped against the wall, very much dead.

Limbs were twisted and cracked, most of the torso gone to reveal only some damaged organs while others appeared to be missing entirely. The skin was dry and withered, paler than anything ever seen before, the eyes wide open and nearly popping out, a milky look in them.

And then all the blood spilling forth from it…

Saya didn't realize she'd started backing up until she slammed against the hallway wall, her legs then giving out and causing her to slump down to the floor. Bile rose up in her throat and it was only through an unconscious effort that it eventually went back down, leaving a bad taste in her mouth.

She was only vaguely aware of Kohta standing his ground before such a horrible sight. For a second, she thought the boy was somehow unfazed by this, until she saw his gun shaking from how tightly he was gripping it.

Seeing him like this, oddly enough, ended up giving her strength. Maybe it was her pride, an attempt to remain strong while the porker panicked yet again. Maybe it was something else. Who knows, really?

What she did know though…

"This wasn't the handiwork of a human…" she mumbled quietly as she stood up, her knees fighting against her as they continued to shake. Her glasses nearly fell off her face as she had to lean forward quite a bit when her knees promptly buckled when she was halfway up.

Her words seemed to snap Kohta out of his own shock and he turned slightly in order to address her. "Y-Y-You mean-?"

"A monster," she said quietly. "A monster's inside the house."

Likely the same one Takashi had sensed… in which case…

"We're all in danger. We need to move… now!"

Feeling a sense of panic she never had before, probably because she'd never felt like her home had ever been this violated, Saya turned and started to run back to where she came from, Kohta surprisingly quick in following after her.

There was no time to waste – everyone here was in perhaps more danger from this thing than the zombies outside.

Every second counted… and this fact filled her with a dread unlike anything ever felt before.

* * *

Shido bristled as he sat within his otherwise comfortable room.

Like everyone else, he too could hear the sounds of the undead coming from outside and also like everyone else, he was feeling more than a little freaked out.

However, his reason for freaking out was different from the others.

It'd been his secret little plan to cause a scene similar to this albeit on a smaller and much more controlled scale. Miku was to gather the info needed to sabotage the gate while Tsunoda would appear to try opening it when in reality he'd merely be a decoy for a third student to sneak towards the gate later and open it.

The gate had obviously been opened but to a somewhat greater degree than he'd intended. Not only that, but it seemed as if far more zombies had noticed this and were making their way onto the estate's grounds too, an oddity given the undeads' simplistic intelligence.

Something had gone wrong, very wrong.

And now here they all were, smack dab in the middle of what could potentially be the end for them all.

This wasn't good, not one bit. Ignoring the fact that the Takagis may come gunning for him now, Shido was facing with a very much unforeseen problem.

There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Tsunoda and the third student selected for this little plan were loyal to him and would gladly carry out his orders to the letter. Therefore, it couldn't have been them to screw this up – hell, the third student hadn't even been sent out yet when this happened! The plan called for Tsunoda to go and get someone's attention – not that the thug knew his true role in the plan, he'd have probably given it away by accident – while the third student would then go out there about ten minutes later to open the gate a bit.

This could only mean one thing:

Someone hijacked his plan.

Again, he could only bristle. If there was one thing he liked less than people meddling into his business, it was people trying to take over after he did all the hard work.

But who could it have been? No one else in this pathetic place seemed the type to pull a stunt like this.

Now sighing, Shido got up from the bed he'd been sitting on and decided to head for the door.

He wasn't alone in this action – there'd been a few students with him up until now, having remained completely silent as he thought over this.

The silence on their part was partially due to the loyalty he'd made sure to instill in them. It was also partially due to them being very much uncomfortable with all the noise outside.

"S-Shido-sensei, what do we do?" asked one of them, a girl with dark brown hair and freckles and with a slender figure.

"Yeah, things are kinda going to hell out there…" spoke the other student, a stocky looking boy with messy black hair.

"For now, we must wait it out. Don't let the noise get to you too much; I'm sure the situation will be under control soon," he answered calmly. Yes, if nothing else, he'll admit Souichirou and Yuriko Takagi were good at what they did. They may be having trouble dealing with this now but he actually had a surprising amount of confidence in getting this mess under control soon enough.

But that aside…

"Where are the others at?"

"Err, a lot of them got roped into making barricades downstairs and stuff," answered the girl hesitantly, as if giving an answer would net her a reprimand.

"We're supposed to help too, I guess, but we decided to come up here instead…" answered the boy.

There was a third student there too, another girl with short hair, who looked at him apologetically. "We, uhm, we didn't know if anyone would try anything against you so we decided to try protecting you if need be, Shido-sensei… plus, being near you, w-well, it puts us at ease."

This reply was enough to make him smile darkly, though the lack of light thankfully hid this smile from them. "I see…. I'm glad to be of help to you in these dark times."

Indeed. It pleased him to know just how well he'd trained them in so short a time.

"However, I'm afraid we can't stay holed up like this forever," he said. "We must go out and see for ourselves if anything can be done to help."

A lie, obviously. He just wanted to stretch his legs a bit and get a more personal view of the situation. Maybe there'd be something he could salvage from this, depending on the circumstances. For sure the Takagis' reputation amongst the survivors would take a hit from this once the cause behind this incident leaked just a bit, if only due to a case of negligence. However, that was only assuming things didn't continue to spiral out of control. In which case, he must try to do something to ensure both his survival and ascent to power.

Leaving the room with the three students following behind him, Shido did his best to not grumble at the lack of light in the hallway. The power outage really was an annoyance, one that he actually found himself hoping would be dealt with by others rather than him.

Turning left in order to begin his trek to the stairs and down to the first floor, Shido first had to take a few seconds to adjust to the darkness, the lit candles doing little to light the way for him.

Seemed like he and his three followers were the only ones on this section of the second floor – he'd heard plenty of people dashing around earlier, presumably to set up the candles and check windows and doors to make sure they're locked, if he had to guess. He could vaguely hearing movement up above on the third floor, so they all were likely up there.

Good, that meant no one was around in his immediate vicinity to watch him. Not like he was going to do something right here and now, but it was the principle of the matter.

"S-Shido-sensei!" one of the girls said to him in a shrill voice. "A-Ahead of us!"

Shido made the misake of first looking to her in confusion before turning back around to see what she was now pointing at.

The instant he did so, he immediately froze in place.

Just how long had that… that _thing_ been there? It was some humanoid looking monster with a jackal-like structure for a head, easily taller than any average human and with a body that looked like it could've been formed out of pure darkness and malice.

Now that he's noticed it, its very presence seemed to overwhelm him, flooding his senses with an overwhelming dread that nearly made him piss himself.

It didn't help now that the thing was walking towards him, the empty sockets in that skull of its seemingly shining with a frightening level of intelligence.

This thing was very much aware of the effect it seemed to be having on him just by _existing_. And it was using this fact to its very advantage; merely by increasing the pace of its long strides, the dread within him swelled, his heartbeat skyrocketing to a point where it wouldn't have been a surprise if he were to die from the organ overworking itself.

All mental functions ceased to work as the monster neared with increasing speed, the only thing continuing to work being Shido's own survival instincts. Even then, said instincts had a hard time making his body respond to do something, _anything_ at all in the face of what would surely be death.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Shido's body responded to his will.

That was when the monster itself finally moved, faster than the human eye could see.

An instant later, blood splattered onto the walls and a shrill scream echoed throughout the entire house.

The slaughter had only begun.

* * *

 **Slightly shorter than previous chapters and intentionally so since I had intended from the start to make this 'event' something of a two-parter.**

 **Well, as you can tell, shit's really hit the fan now for them all and trust me when I say this is the beginning of the end of their peaceful times at Saya's place. As to what exactly will happen next and what will occur later… heh, that's something you'll see in the coming chapters. Hope you will look forward to it!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	10. Chapter 10

Hope you guys are doing well, what with this heat wave and all! I know it's officially summer as of a week or so ago but damn did it warm up fast. Oddly enough though, the other Saturday where I live, it started out very hot (upper 90s) and then experienced a pretty swift drop around 5 in the afternoon, dropping down to what felt like the low 80s to me! Not that I complained about it but it sure was an odd thing to experience.

Now then, just to reiterate what I said in last chapter's AN – following this chapter, I will begin work on my novel and will alternate writing chapters for it and this fic. Again, how exactly this will impact the updates for this fic, I honestly cannot say but as long as I don't get severe writer's block or something then it should only push back updates by maybe a few days or so. But again, this is tentative; life always throws curveballs at us, so anything is up in the air, really.

Whelp, with that aside, let's get onto the chapter! Things really heat up this time around!

Chapter 10

The wickerman-like monster found itself feeling surprised as it launched its first strike.

Rather than gut the glasses-wearing adult like it had expected to do so, said man had managed to dodge out of the way at the last possible second. It ended up grazing his shoulder ever so slightly but otherwise the man was unharmed.

However, the girl that had been standing behind the man hadn't been so lucky – its vicious blow splattered her head all along the walls.

A pity, really. It found itself preferring somewhat younger people as food as opposed to adult for some reason. It'd just gone and wasted food essentially.

The other girl nearby saw this and screamed, loudly. The other teen there, a boy, merely looked at it with shocked eyes, evidently unable to fully comprehend what had just happened.

But the man… oh, the monster will give the man this much. He knew how to run, if nothing else. Already, the man had weaved past it and charged for the stars, nary a peep escaping from him.

The monster almost grunted in mild annoyance. That was sure to get others' attention. Alas, while it could catch up to the man, the girl's scream had no doubt gotten the attention of others.

Speaking of which…

The screaming girl now seemed to regain function of her limbs as did the boy and both tried to move but unlike with the adult, the monster didn't allow them to flee.

The adult, which it assumed was an annoying individual, wasn't worth much to it beyond an appetizer.

But these two? Oh, they'd be far better treats.

The instant they tried to turn and run, it was swiftly upon them, once more moving with speed that nearly exceeded the speed of a human's eyeblink.

Its limbs cracked and twisted. The jackal-like seemingly made from wood or straw morphing and breaking apart to reveal something… else. Something most certainly more inhuman than its appearance already was.

The two teens hardly got a chance to continue their screaming before it was upon them.

It feasted on them with increasing glee.

Its banquet had only just begun.

* * *

Rei, having been in the midst of helping secure one of the windows on the bottom floor, paused along with everyone else at the sound of someone – a girl – shrieking in horror.

In response to this, everyone around her began to panic even more than usual.

But not her. Scared as she was by what the screaming implied, what with it coming from the second floor, she knew something had to be done about this.

No one else was seemingly stepping up to the plate, so it fell to her, it seemed.

Thankfully, not for very long, for Saya and Kohta came running from down a nearby hall. The looks on their faces were grimly determined, traces of horror and even nausea on their faces.

They clearly saw something wrong and it worried Rei. Not enough to make her slow her pace as she dashed to catch up with them.

"Something's inside!" Saya said just as she got close.

"Figured!" Again, that scream made it obvious. As they started to race up the stairs, someone came dashing down. Rei widened her eyes in surprise, only to narrow them. "Hey!"

Shido.

He looked spooked, massively so, which filled her with just as much glee as it did rage at seeing him in general. He didn't seem to even notice them running up nor hear her call out to him.

So perhaps Rei could be forgiven for bumping into him rather hard on the way up. This nearly cost her balance but it was a worthy price to see Shido, surprised by this maneuver, to go tumbling down the rest of the steps, crying out in pain all the while.

He'll pull through – rat bastards like him can be surprisingly resilient like that – but at least he'll be sporting some nasty bruises from the hard tumbling. Plus, with any luck, he'll stay down just long enough for them to check on things and then dash back then.

She, for one, wasn't keen on letting him get away this time, regardless of the circumstances.

Rei could practically hear Saya roll her eyes from just a bit ahead of her, which prompted a small sense of embarrassment to blossom within her but definitely no regret. She'd never regret putting some hurt on that fucker.

This small instance of bemusement shared between them came to an end, however, when some men came rushing from the third floor, nearly running right into them as they entered the second floor all but simultaneously.

Kohta did end up bumping into one of the men with an audible and almost comical 'oof!' but this split second scene was completely ignored as they all bore witness to the candles of the hallway going out, leaving them there to stare into complete darkness…

…But not before they'd been able to make out the shape of something approaching. Something humanoid yet with a face that had looked so terribly wrong in that instant before the candle flames went out.

It was enough to nearly make Rei freeze as a sense of horror different from what she'd experienced thus far filled her.

Her grip on her makeshift weapon tightened most impractically but she couldn't help it as some more candles around them started to go out too, a chill running down not just her spine but those of the others too if the light gasps of shock she heard were anything to go by.

That was when the newfound darkness all but sprang to life, Rei feeling _something_ lash out from somewhere. She had no idea where from though – she couldn't see.

But she could hear and she heard something slam against one of the men with bone-breaking force, a pained gasp escaping from somewhere nearby before growing slightly distance.

Pandemonium then started to break out literally right next to her, Rei hearing Kohta and the other men there trying to get a bead on whatever attacked, crying out commands, military from what she could recognize, to one another in order to keep each other alert.

But this did no good, for all that followed after they tried to react was more attacks being thrust forth from the darkness, more and more candles going out sporadically in between each blow.

One after another, Rei could vaguely hear the men being knocked away – or maybe even outright _killed_ – in rapid succession.

Then she heard Kohta let out a howl of pain before he seemingly disappeared from near her, followed by the sound of a loud impact against the wall nearby.

Then she heard Saya cry out shrilly, a terrifying squelch occurring at the same exact time.

That was when Rei literally felt something come her way immediately thereafter. Unable to bring herself to attack blindly, all she could do was mount a defense by raising her weapon up and holding it firmly in a guarding stance.

A powerful force, certainly stronger than any normal human, slammed into her weapon barely a split second later, nearly breaking it in two and causing the bones in her arms to rattle in the process.

This filled her with a certain level of terror – not because of the force of the blow… but rather that it was able to lift her, weighing all of around 50 kilograms, right off her feet as if she was a little kid…

…And over the railing of the second floor.

Her mind had all but shut down in this moment upon realizing she was falling to the first floor, a hard floor, and as it rebooted in a matter of milliseconds, she tried frantically to grab onto something to try breaking her fall.

She grabbed nothing but air and could only stare upwards in mid-fall.

Just before impact, Rei could've sworn something was staring back at her maliciously, clearly about to revel in her incoming pain and injury.

Sure enough, when she hit the floor and cried out, she felt that same dark stare grow ever darker with delight.

* * *

Takashi ran like his life depended on it. Which it did.

But even as he ran, leading the zombie he'd been tussling with earlier along with several others towards the back of the Takagis' property, his mind was elsewhere.

Namely on the monster that had somehow gotten inside the mansion.

He couldn't even begin to fathom how that had been possible, but the 'how' mattered far less than the fact it was in there at all.

The others were in danger. That alone meant he couldn't afford to simply dick around out here. He had to do something.

He had to get in there, had to help… but how? Just what the hell was he supposed to do against one monster?

Bah, that was a problem he could worry when he actually got around to it. First thing first…

"Come on!" he roared in defiance to the zombies chasing after him still. Running as fast as he possibly could, he proceeded to lead them across the backyard and towards the trees near the far wall.

Behind him, he could hear the zombies roar in rage and hunger, the one he'd fought earlier along with another seemingly putting on a minor burst of speed in an attempt to catch up with him.

But just when it seemed like they were about to reach out and grab him by the back of his shirt, they'd already reached the trees.

And since the zombies were veritably blind, they had no idea what was coming to them when he weaved in between the thick trees there.

He heard rather than saw some of the zombies smash into the trees while they'd been running at full speed. They let out no screams of pain since that was something they could no longer feel but the impact tended to result in their raging howls being abruptly cut off.

It wasn't until he reached the wall itself that Takashi finally slowed and started to make a turn back around. At this point, he got a look at the zombies and saw that they'd all crashed into the trees and were trying and failing to follow him as they got stuck between some trees whilst trying to crawl towards him.

But not all the zombies had gotten stuck.

"You're an obstinate bastard…!" he muttered, as the exact same zombie he'd been tussling with earlier had the most success at getting back up on its feet and moving in between the trees… albeit not with bumping into them right in the shoulders.

By the time it reached Takashi, it was practically swaying on its feet from all the bumps it took to the sides. Even so, it still tried to reach out for him with a vicious attack, more akin to a swipe of the nails rather than a punch now.

But Takashi was ready for it. When the attack came his way, he ducked and took some measure of satisfaction when the zombie's hand impacted against the thick and tough wall with surprising force, some of the fingers breaking at painfully odd angles.

He then slumped down as much as he could in order to kick at the zombie's legs just as it continued to clumsily step forward and it ended up falling face-first now into the wall.

Whatever remained of its nose broke on impact, but it simply tried to pull back without so much as a groan of hunger. But Takashi wasn't about to let it pull back, getting up as quickly as he could and with his right hand latched onto the back of its skull and rammed it forward.

The zombie's skull cracked against the wall, but it still moved and tried to turn around upon realizing where Takashi was. But Takashi gave it no chance to retaliate and with a howl of his own, proceeded to smash its head repeatedly against the wall until its movements finally ceased.

This was something that took nearly half a minute of smashing to accomplish and by then, Takashi was panting hard as the zombie's skull was reduced to little more than bloodied mulch.

Letting go, Takashi watched as the body slumped down. Seeing this and confirming for sure it was dead for good, he then took note of the other zombies still trying to get up and now took this chance to dash around them.

His destination, the backdoor, was in sight as soon as he cleared the trees. No other zombies seemed ready to run over this way, so he was in the clear.

He allowed himself a slight sense of accomplishment, but that was quickly squashed when he heard screaming from within as he got closer. And not the kind of screaming that comes from something dangerous being just outside like the zombies. No, this was the kind of screaming when one's life was in imminent danger.

The monster was on a spree, it seemed.

He picked up his pace and immediately ended up smashing through the back door, which had been locked yet thankfully with nothing that had been blocking it.

Ignoring the pain in his shoulder from the impromptu entrance, Takashi paused and immediately looked around, seeing people practically running everywhere and anywhere that could be labeled as safe within the mansion, all but unnoticing of his entrance.

Grabbing a nearby table and using it to block the backdoor he just came through, Takashi proceeded to run to where everyone was running away from.

As he did so, he noticed that candles were inexplicably going out as he neared the place.

Once he got there, it was to see Rei lying on the floor, thankfully alive, but very much in pain. It looked as if she'd fallen somehow.

But what had his attention was what stood before him, some humanoid monster that he could just barely seen within the darkness of this area, its foot resting on Rei's stomach painfully while it held another person in its left hand.

The person held in its grasp was screaming, or at least tried to, while trying to break free to no avail. The monster's attention was focused primarily on this person and Takashi could've sworn its head, just barely visible to him, started to morph.

Then in the span of a second, the person trapped in its hand died, painfully so. Takashi heard some horrific scream turning into a wheezing sound, as if the very essence of the person was suck right out. Then, faster than he could fully perceive, the body started to change during this process, limbs twisting and breaking and organs spilling out as the monster reached out with its other hand to grab them.

It seemed to eat some of the organs, a sight that petrified the teen to the point where all else seemed to fade away from his mind, the sensation this thing's presence induced in him overwhelming him now to a point where it felt like the monster was all that existed.

And then Rei screamed and he snapped right out of it.

The monster threw its now deceased victim aside, its head still in its new twisted shape as it turned its attention to Rei.

That was when Takashi moved, letting loose a scream unlike anything he's ever let out before.

"GET THE FUCK OFF HER!" he roared, uncaring as to how much noise he just made. He ran forward and jumped, delivering a drop kick to the monster's face just as it turned and spotted him. He must have caught it by surprise because rather than immediately lash out at him in mid-jump, it made a noise instead, seemingly startled.

His feet struck its head and Takashi felt the bones in his legs practically rattle from impact. The thing was tough, really tough.

But not tough enough to simply tank his attack – it went stumbling back, foot off Rei now and making a sound of what sounded like pain, however mild.

He paid it little attention. "Rei? Rei?!"

"I'm… I'm okay. Just… my back," she mumbled as he shifted his attention to her, only to then spare a glance to the monster as it recovered its balance. "Move, move!" Rei then yelled as she noticed this too.

And move he did, just as he hefted her up in a princess carry. Despite now carrying Rei, Takashi still was able to skip back a fair distance as the monster's very arm seemed to shift into pure darkness and lunged at where he'd been standing.

The monster stomped where Rei had just been and its foot cracked the tough tile like nothing. It then raised its head, which morphed back into what Takashi presumed to be it original shape, looking like a jackal but out of something akin to wood.

Its eyeless sockets bore into Takashi's eyes, almost freezing him in place as he detected a hint of familiarity from the damned thing. This proved to be a nearly fatal mistake for its arm, still shifted into darkness, suddenly lashed out, reaching a hell of a lot farther than it would have otherwise.

Takashi was able to sidestep it though and tried to turn around, ready to run outside with Rei, only to stop where he was. For he realized if he did that, just where the hell would he actually go? Souichirou was still out there with his men fighting more and more of the zombies that came through the gate, meaning outside was obviously not safe. But staying in here would only put Rei and the others in danger if he let the monster go on the offensive here.

Thankfully, the choice was taken out of his hands when gunfire suddenly erupted from behind the monster, but not before a familiar voice spoke to him. "Move!"

He obeyed just in time to see the flash of several handguns as the bullets were fired directly at the monster with incredible precision.

The monster took the rounds to its back, some shot even piercing all the way through and exiting through its torso. It let out a groan of surprise and pain and slumped forward, allowing Takashi now to see who'd come to the rescue.

Yuriko Takagi stood at the forefront of the group of people, gun raised in her delicate hands. And somewhere along that lineup of men behind her was none other than Hirano, the gun geek looking slightly beat up but still raring to go, if the angry look in his eyes was anything to go by, his glare not even remotely mitigated by his cracked glasses.

The monster started to get back up, only for a steel-faced Yuriko and Hirano to be the first to open fire on it.

The monster, this time ready for it, let out a growl as the bullets struck its form. To Takashi's surprise, rather than charge forward at the group, it backed off – and then transformed into a pitch-black fog that Takashi immediately lost track of. Even the sensation he'd been experiencing until now vanished too.

So that's how he lost track of it – he could only notice it when it's solid, he realized silently.

And the sensation returned not even a few seconds later whilst the group looked around in confusion and worry.

"Above!" he called out the instant the sensation came back. "Above you!"

The group was quick to respond to his warning and sure enough, the monster had reformed directly above them, falling directly into the center of their group. It swiftly attacked, Takashi hearing someone cry out in pain before seeing blood spurt along the walls. The others around it promptly backed away and opened fire in controlled bursts, not wanting to accidentally shoot one another.

Yuriko, now being the furthest away from the monster, actually backed away further so that she was closer to where Takashi and Rei were.

Takashi couldn't help but note that the woman had still been dressed in her usual classy dress, albeit with a tear in the side to reveal a long and toned leg, no doubt to allow more range of movement. This only increased his respect for her, since he could just picture her having made that tear without an ounce of hesitation.

"You two alright?" she asked while her men fought back against the monster, some shots connecting while the rest missed as the monster turned to a fog again.

"Y-Yeah, just my back hurting again… it knocked me off the second floor," Rei answered before Takashi could even think to respond.

Yuriko nodded, her eyes narrowing into a harsh glare. "I see. It knocked around some of our men up there too… along with Hirano-kun and my daughter." Takashi could imagine she wasn't too happy about that particular fact. "Where's my husband?"

"Still outside," Takashi answered while trying to keep track of the monster still, but since it was still in fog form, he had no idea where it'd be. "He was making some solid headway towards the gate along with his men, but…"

It went without saying that the closer they got to the gate, the more zombies they'd have to deal with. Yuriko easily picked up on this and for a brief second, looked genuinely uneasy. Even someone as cool-headed as her couldn't fully hide her worry for her loved ones.

"I see. Then that means we'll have to deal with this… pest as quickly as possible and then go back them-!" Just as Yuriko was about to finish her sentence, the sensation returned and it was super-close to them, causing Takashi to act on pure instinct by way of shoving Yuriko aside with a free hand, having set down Rei carefully during the past minute.

Yuriko took this most gracefully, the monster's transformed arm stabbing through the spot she'd just been in while she turned and took aim at it just several feet away.

She fired three rounds in rapid succession, but the monster actually managed to dodge just before she fired, ducking to avoid being blasted in the head.

It then leapt at Takashi and Rei, but just before it could reach them, Rei reacted first. Having still been holding onto her weapon this entire time, she thrust it forward and, whether by skill or by luck, connected with its throat, eliciting a pained choking sound from it as it fell to the floor thereafter.

But it was far from being down and it kicked at the two of them quite viciously. Even though Takashi was able to throw himself in front of Rei in time to shield her, the kick still lifted them both off the floor and sent them slamming into a nearby shelf, breaking it.

Pieces of wood went flying everywhere as pain flooded Takashi and Rei and both went slumping to the floor.

Rei appeared out of it now, too consumed by pain, but Takashi wasn't. He was therefore able to watch as the monster focused on Yuriko, who retained her wits as it dashed at her with startling speed. She merely reloaded and opened fire.

Some shots seemed to connect if the black substance appearing on the floor was anything to go by – the monster's blood, Takashi presumed – but the rest missed as the monster tried to bob and weave to throw off the woman's aim.

Just as it neared her, the men it had fought just a moment ago were now back at it, Hirano standing there with them. Hirano was in fact the first one to launch a counter attack, taking careful aim with his semi-auto and firing several rounds into the monster's side when it was just a few feet away from Yuriko.

It growled in annoyance but charged forth anyways, kicking Yuriko hard in the stomach and attempted to follow after her as she went sailing through the air.

But by then, Takashi had had enough of being on the sidelines, even if that'd been due to being thrown. He picked up part of the broken shelf and tossed it at the monster, hitting it just slightly in the side of its head. However, his toss proved to be strong enough to make it lurch in mild surprise and cease its charge.

This gave the men enough time to swiftly march forth, reloading while it was stunned and opening fire again.

Only a few bullets managed to strike the monster, however, for it then transformed into its fog form again and seemingly dispersed.

Where to, Takashi had no idea, but it didn't seem like it was going to immediately attack again. But not knowing where it went and when it may strike again only made him and the others here more nervous rather than allow them a mild breather.

Still, he wasn't about to pass this chance up and helped Rei back onto her feet, careful not to touch her back too forcefully when he helped her steady herself.

"Just… what the hell is it going to do now?" Rei muttered out, pain tinging her tone of voice.

"No idea," Takashi murmured back truthfully, fully aware that his longtime friend's question had been somewhat rhetorical – after all, how could any of them be expected to have a good answer to a question like that?

He knew one thing though – it wasn't anything good.

* * *

The monster had momentarily retreated up to the third floor of the mansion, hissing quietly as it flitted about at subsonic speeds in its fog form still. It was tempted to take on its physical form again, feeling rather comfortable with it, but decided against it – that boy would locate where it was and likely send those men after it.

As much as it relished a challenge, it needed a bit of a moment to rest and plan things out.

Things had started out well enough for it, but following that teen rushing inside this place, things had taken a turn for… well, certainly not the worst, it'd say, but the situation was no longer one where it could simply breeze through things.

These humans were proving to be something of a challenge, if only due to their numbers and guns. No matter, given time to wear them down, it was sure to succeed. As things stood, simply remaining in its current fog form helped speed up its healing process. Given just a few more minutes, the bullet wounds it had suffered would be gone and it could afford to engage them in combat again.

However, there was still a substantial chance that they could fell it if given a misstep or two on its part, especially if the humans outside manage to regain control of the situation. And despite how bleak things may seem to the ones outside, the monster suspected that it'd only be a matter of time until they reclaim the gate and close it, at which point they'd regroup with the ones in here and provide additional backup against it.

Should that happen, it would have only two options, continue to fight or retreat for good. The monster was now more certain than ever of this bunch's capabilities, information that would help it better combat them and feast on them later, but that didn't mean all risk was suddenly eliminated for it.

There was still a good chance it could be slain and despite how ravenous its appetite was as well as its own battle-lust, the monster was still in just enough control of itself to consider the more pragmatic option here.

Even so, retreating wasn't something it wanted to do. If it did, the humans here may very risk moving elsewhere now that this place has been compromised, which would then require it to do some reconnaissance on said potential new place in order to maximize its next ambush.

It didn't really feel like doing that again. Best to try and simply satisfy itself now rather than wait longer, lest its own appetite grow.

In which case… it was going to need some backup.

Calling forth more of the undead would help, but not enough to truly turn the tide of battle in its favor completely.

It'd need something stronger, more aggressive and even chaotic…

And fortunately, one such ally came to mind.

Most of its brethren, at least those of its general level, may not be the most sapient beings around, driven more by pure instinct rather than intelligence like itself, but they would never ignore its call for help provided they were close enough to receive its telepathic communication.

Thankfully, its would-be helper was just close enough to be signaled.

 _Come. Feast here alongside me._

Through the bond shared with its brethren, the monster felt the hum that signified a response in the affirmative.

Already, it could hear its helper roar from a great distance, already proceeding to make its way here.

The monster then flitted out of the room it'd taken refuge in to go and greet its brethren once it was here.

Dark glee filled its very being as it did so.

The terror that would soon be inspired within the hearts of every human here… how delicious it would taste once it begins to feast again.

Feeling confident again, the monster now began to venture forth once more. Not to continue the battle just yet, however, but rather to engorge itself a bit more on the other survivors here. Only when its incoming friend provided enough of a panic will it then take the opportunity to kill those that had tried to kill it just a moment ago.

Until then, it'll enjoy itself.

* * *

Saeko used the flat side of her blade to parry the incoming arm of a rail thin zombie before spinning to gain the momentum needed to cut through the upper part of its head.

The zombie's severed part went flying the air and it dropped to the ground before here, joining the ever-growing pile of bodies.

That repressed part of her took great joy in this sight, her inner sadist all but moaning inwardly in ecstasy as she proceeded to cut down another incoming zombie, slicing its head vertically in half.

However, this jubilation was tempered by weariness, both in the physical and mental sense.

The battle had only been going for several minutes at most, but Saeko was feeling as if she'd been fighting for much longer.

So many zombies had come lunging after her in some form or another that plenty of times so far she'd been forced to overextend herself with several of her attacks and movements, costing her more energy than she could afford to use up.

What's more, for every zombie she successfully cut down, two more took its place. Her blade was special in that no liquid could ever really stick to it, blood included, yet the blood of these zombies was so damned coagulated that it still managed to stick anyways for the most part. She had to constantly give her sword a good shake to remove the blood and even then, not all of it would come off.

The only good thing, if it could be called that, was that most of the incoming horde focused on Souichirou Takagi and his forces as they made a steady path towards the gate, the group just barely visible in her periphery vision. This freed her up a lot since the gunfire and battle cries of the group attracted most of the zombies.

Even so, it was hardly easy for her. At some point, Tsunoda ran off and she couldn't afford to keep track of him as more zombies came her way.

Very much like now as three came her way, charging at her like stampeding bulls. Given that these three were particularly large and almost grotesquely overweight despite entire pieces of their torsos missing, that wasn't a bad way to describe them in hindsight.

This didn't make them any easier to stop, however.

Being far lighter and weaker than they are in terms of brute strength, Saeko couldn't possibly parry any blows they launched their way. So instead, she ran past them, slicing the closest one to her on the left leg. She couldn't cut through it completely but succeeded in disrupting its balance as its own weight and horrible running form worked against it. This made much easier for her to then ram a shoulder into it and make it tumble over into the other two.

The zombies fell over and she wasted no time in standing over them, stabbing them one after another in the center of their foreheads, ending them for good.

Drawing the blade out of the last one, Saeko found herself almost staggering and had to use her weapon as a makeshift crutch to keep standing as her knees nearly buckled.

Adrenaline was a hell of a drug, but that didn't mean her body wasn't being pushed past its limits here and in ways that the encounter with the 'tree' monster had been unable to push it. Against that hellish thing, it'd been more a game of dodging with little in the way of genuine offense. It helped that the monster had been pretty slow.

But that wasn't the case here. Offense and defense were both absolute necessities here to pulling through and against multiple enemies which thereby required her attention to be split amongst many rather than focus on just one at a time.

…Things were looking bad.

And now things were about to get much worse, it seemed.

She'd heard that roar just now. And it had sounded familiar. The way the ground rumbled as of just seconds ago as the thing rapidly approached only confirmed it.

And now… it sounded like it was just rounding the corner of this street. It roared again and Saeko gritted her teeth, forcing herself to stand up and assume her stance again.

Yes, she did recognize the roar, she really did.

She scarcely got the chance to yell out for Souicihirou Takagi and his men to watch out when the new arrival slammed against the gate, smashing numerous zombies outside against it, pulverizing them into fine mulch.

The gate, having been slowly opened more and more as the zombie horde had forced its way through, buckled and creaked open just another foot or so. This allowed the new arrival just enough room to wiggle in now, violently so as its limbs knocked aside some more zombies.

Its 'head,' really nothing more than a vicious mass of teeth and a long disgusting tongue, seemed to turn and look around, somehow glaring at the area now around it.

Saeko, already sweating from exertion, now broke out into a cold sweat at the mere sight of it, just before the monster went on the offensive against the group nearby.

The 'dog' from before was here again.

* * *

Shizuka held herself most nervously from within one of the rooms on the first floor. She, along with Kyouko-chan and Alice-chan, had been evacuated here to the rec room along with plenty others earlier when the zombies somehow entered the Takagis' grounds and since then, all she'd been able to do was treat the minor wounds others had suffered in the mad scuffle here and pace around in worry.

She wasn't the only one doing so, for plent y of others were doing the same. The doors have long since been barricaded, but that didn't put them anymore at ease, especially when what sounded like an intense fight seemed to have been going on within the mansion itself just moments ago.

Shizuka had no idea what exactly the fight had been, but she doubted it'd been against zombies – there'd been a distinct lack of moans and frenzied howling for it to have been the ravenous undead.

Which meant it had likely been something else… another monster, most likely. But what kind of monster? The lack of noise beyond the cries she'd heard from her fellow humans out there didn't really give much away.

"Just how did it all go wrong?!" Kyouko-chan muttered, her friend sitting on a sofa near her, just about to chew her entire fingernail off from her frayed nerves. "How could this have happened at all?!"

Alice-chan and the dog, Zeke, were seated beside the brunette and looked absolutely terrified, more so with how worried Kyouko-chan was.

Shizuka felt somewhat tempted to tell her friend to calm down, lest she upset the poor girl and the dog anymore, but refrained from doing so; it'd have been a pointless gesture given the circumstances.

Besides, even if whatever she could possibly say could calm Kyouko-chan down, there were still plenty others here who were currently muttering similar things in worry and frustration.

"I-Is there anything we can do?" Alice-chan quietly asked, sounding so scared and unsure. In her lap, Zeke barked in nervous agreement.

Shizuka couldn't help but almost coo. The girl was so scared yet tried to be so brave. "Oh, Alice-chan~ I wish there was, but with things right now, we'd probably just get in the way."

She wished she could've worded that far more tactfully but found herself unable to do so. Instead, her words had come out most sheepishly.

"B-B-But the others…!"

Now it was Kyouko-chan who tried to comfort the girl. "I know," she began softly. "But they know how to fight… and we don't. If we try going out, we'd only be making things harder for them… plus, we still have to consider the others here too."

Again, not the most tactful way to put things but it was certainly gentle to an extent.

Still, seeing the way Alice-chan slumped in her seat hurt her heart and Shizuka couldn't help but push her gargantuan breasts up as she raised her arms, still hugging herself.

That all said, she did wish something more could be done about the power. The complete lack of lighting in this room did absolutely nothing for her nerves. Not even the abundance of lit candles illuminated the room all that much and now Shizuka was starting to think that perhaps the nearly overwhelming darkness here was serving as a metaphor for the dire situation.

…Hmm?

She squinted her eyes in confusion as she looked to the corner of the room furthest away from her. Bending forward to get a better look, unmindful of her breasts hanging down and nearly spilling out of her, Shizuka noticed the oddity.

Was it just her imagination or did there used to be more lit candles over there?

A woman that had been near the now un-lit candles suddenly let out a scream as she turned her head – just before it was ripped right off.

It was so sudden a thing that Shizuka, against her better judgement, ended up freezing in place whilst everyone else broke out in a genuine panic, men and women making a made dash away from that now dark spot as _something_ emerged from it.

A monster and a humanoid looking one at that too, holding the torn off head like a trophy.

Then its jackal-like head shifted before their very eyes, taking on some shape that Shizuka couldn't even begin to identify yet still started to retch at the sight just before the severed head and collapsed body began to wither and break apart in a gory fashion.

This lasted only seconds before the monster's head returned to its previous shape and it rounded its gaze on the rest of them.

It was when its gaze momentarily locked onto her that Shizuka was able to move again, the sheer terror she felt at becoming its next victim serving as excellent motivation in moving.

But true to klutzy form, she ended up tripping over her own feet and fell back just as the monster launched itself at her. Its outstretched hand, so large and strong, missed her breasts by mere millimeters, its sharps claws making a slight cut in the middle of her shirt as it sailed over her.

Uncaring as her breasts nearly burst out of her bra and the opening in the shirt, Shizuka quickly started to crawl away upon hitting the floor, whatever pain her fall dealt her simply not affecting her in her current state of mind.

She did slow ever so slightly to see where Kyouko-chan and Alice-chan were and was immediately rewarded with the two and Zeke already trying to make a run for the door, Kyouko-chan all but dragging Alice-chan who in turn was pretty much pulling Zeke by his little tail.

There were others already there at the door, moving aside what they'd put in front of it as a barricade in a mad panic, no doubt regretting how their barricade had now worked against them.

But just as it looked like they were about to fully do so, the monster's arm shifted in pure darkness and it reeled back its transformed arm and hurled it forward.

Shizuka, still crawling, watched in horror as the darkness then shifted into something resembling a large halberd, stabbing through a man that had been carrying his child, the attack stabbing through the man's back and out his chest, where his child was being held.

When the monster pulled its arm back, the man and child fell to the ground, both dead. The others, now gathering near the door more and more, screamed at the sight just before the monster went on the offensive again, its form transforming briefly into a dark fog that swiftly spread throughout the room before coalescing back into its physical form.

And when it did so, all the candles had been blown out, leaving them all now trapped in true darkness.

Still, Shizuka found herself just barely able to see the crowd getting the doors open, only to then try to exit the room at the same time, resulting in a painful bottleneck.

In their haste, they ended up getting themselves stuck, something that apparently occurred to them for many screamed even louder for help.

The monster stalked forth, its steps sounding remarkably loud despite all the chaotic noise the others were causing. And it was swiftly approaching Shizuka, who now was able to get back on her feet.

She tried to run, but rather than head for the door, she headed to the side where Kyouko-chan, Alice-chan and Zeke had fled to.

Shizuka could feel the monster's gaze on her, its bloodlust washing over her in the process and nearly making her legs give out in mid-run. But then it turned away from her and it began to quicken its pace.

It was heading for the stuck crowd. And why wouldn't it when all of them looked as if they wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon? It wouldn't surprise if it had deemed her and her friends to be the lowest of flight risks in this situation given they were now huddling up in the corner and therefore worthy of being saved for last.

Reaching her friends and all but literally pinning themselves against the corner wall, none of them dared to look as the screams of terror turned into screams of agony and despair.

But as loud as the screams were, the hacking and slashing of the monster's limbs were louder still… as was the spilling of organs and breaking of bones.

Shizuka grabbed the back of Alice-chan's head and all but forced the girl to face the wall, wanting so desperately to spare the poor girl this sight. She'd have done the same for Kyouko-chan too, but her friend was already doing so.

The nurse had no idea how long they ended up standing there – probably only a few minutes – but Shizuka felt as if it had been an eternity of hell before something suddenly changed in the situation.

The change came in the form of a voice that was most familiar and provided Shizuka with more than a small measure of relief.

"Cover your eyes!" screamed out one Saya Takagi, no doubt coming from the other side of the rapidly dwindling crowd. "Ears too!"

Shizuka just barely managed to do when something clinked against the floor, seemingly near the monster from the sound of things…

And then, even with her eyes closed and still facing the wall, the entire world seemed to be filled with blinding light.

And everything, from the monster's howls of dark hunger and glee to the crowd's final death throes, ceased to be.

* * *

 **I can say without spoiling that Saya had come to save the day there with a flashbang. As to how it can work whereas damn near everything else can't will be explained in the next chapter along with how Saya even got it too.**

 **As for why it seems so strong despite Shizuka covering her eyes and ears, well, it's just the latest model basically, ha ha.**

 **Well then, with this chapter, the end has now come for the Takagi's residence arc (man, feels weird to use that term for this scenario). The next chapter will tie up everything for this little arc and the next one will be underway and with a few more surprises at that too!**

 **Hope you'll look forward to it, though it will likely be a few weeks before it's up – remember, I will begin working on my novel now and alternating between this and that.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	11. Chapter 11

TheDarkHollow, thank you very much for stating your understanding. And believe it or not but bouncing back and forth between this fic and my novel is actually rather saddening to me too; I've been looking forward to writing this fic for quite some time but the same could also be said of my novel too. Ah, it's times like this where I find myself childishly wishing I could instantly make clones of myself in order to multitask… ah well, it is what it is, sadly.

Thankfully, I was able to get around to working on this chapter faster than I'm sure was expected of me. Since I was working on part 3 of my novel (series?), the first chapter I wrote for it most recently was something of a brief introduction so writing that had been both easy and quick. Now whether or not the same can be said for future chapters of it as I write them, that's an entirely different thing. But we'll be finding that out together, I suppose.

Again, many thanks for understanding!

And now on another note, man I'm hyped! Dragon Ball Super: Broly! Just found out recently about the title for the movie coming out this December in Japan (January in the US!) and was immediately blown away! Started looking up as much info about it as I could and was really pleased about what I learned.

Man, I remember when the first Broly movie came out in English and on VHS – got it as a birthday present as a kid and remembered watching it for the first time that same day too. Was just blown away by how OP Broly was. Even back then, I knew he wasn't the strongest character in fiction or anything like that, but damn if he didn't look badass!

As I grew older, I realized he wasn't exactly the most well-written character, even for a DBZ movie villain but even then I still liked him a lot for his ax-crazy personality and feats and all that. Plus, there was a theory here and there that Broly didn't actually hate Goku (prior to movie 10, that is) and was instead motivated by his Saiyan instincts and all that, but sadly a lot of these implications got lost in the English translation and in the few Broly fanfics I've read, they never really ran with this alternative interpretation of him. So to find out Akira Toriyama himself will be redesigning his backstory while still sticking true to his original design for the most part really has me hopeful for him in this movie!

Heh, feeling tempted to one day write a fic about this new/canon Broly once I see the movie. Really tempted. But of course, this fic and my novel will take priority until then. Besides, I have until January to work on them and see how close I get to finishing, ha ha.

Whelp, enough of me fanboying. Time for the chapter!

Chapter 11

When she'd first been knocked aside by that thing, Saya had suffered a rather nasty bruise to her stomach that had left her seriously reeling in pain. But compared to the injuries the others had suffered up there, she'd gotten off pretty easy, enough to get back up on her feet with some assistance from her mom when she and her men had come running down from the third floor of their mansion.

After her mom had given her a quick check-up, Saya had urged her to go and stop the monster downstairs instead, which her mom had reluctantly done. But not before giving her a quick hug, no doubt having been worried about how this situation would turn out….

A thought that Saya tried not to let get to her.

Anyways, she hadn't been intent on simply standing there while her mom and the others fought that monster and had hustled her way downstairs towards where most of the survivors had holed themselves up.

Except by the time she got there the monster had evidently switched targets.

What she'd seen from the end of the hallway was a veritable bloodbath, so horrific in sight that she'd nearly puked on herself. But recalling that Shizuka, Hayashi-sensei and Alice had been with that crowd had prevented her from doing so and to soldier on, but not before opening a secret compartment nearby.

Her father was something of a paranoid man despite his otherwise stoic and in-control personality, having made several secret compartments throughout the house. None of them contained any guns of the sort, but did contain grenades instead, concussive ones, including flashbangs.

She'd grabbed one out of the compartment and hastily closed it up before running to the rec room, growling all the while in pain from the bruise.

She'd issued a warning to anyone still alive inside and threw the grenade in before protecting herself from the resulting bang.

Even then, the flash of intense light and ringing sound still nearly incapacitated her. She never knew just how crazy effective these flashbangs could be until now.

But she was thankful for it, for even through the intense ringing in her ears, she could hear the monster howl in shock and pain.

It was a creature of seemingly pure darkness, from the glimpse she'd gotten of it earlier when it had struck her. Perhaps such a sudden and intense display of light had hurt it. She hoped so. She most certainly did.

Whether or not the monster suffered any actual wounds from the flashbang, however, she didn't know, but she did see it transform into a fog and disappear from her blurry sight, so that was a definite plus.

Stumbling into the room, trying not to puke once more upon having to walk over what remained of most of the people that had been inside, Saya called out for the others.

"Hey! Shizuka! Sensei! Brat! You there!" She yelled as loud as she could, or so she thought; her ears were still ringing and she was disoriented, so for all she knew, she could simply be shouting it within her own mind.

However, much to her relief, she vaguely heard someone respond to her words and she turned to the left, seeing the distinct figures of the three in question.

"S-Saya onee-chan!" Alice cried out in joy.

Saya hissed a bit, the loudness of the girl hurting her still sensitive ears as the effects of the flashbang finally started to really wear off.

Nonetheless, she really did feel relieved to see them all in one piece. Also, she could now see that some other people have survived as well, the monster presumably having not gotten to them just yet.

But the rest of the crowd though…

She made sure to position herself so that the approaching Alice saw only her. And when the girl hugged her tightly, Saya made sure to return the gesture, more out of a desire to keep her from seeing the bloodbath more than anything else.

"You two okay?" she asked the two adults.

"Y-Yes," Hayashi-sensei answered.

"Mhm…" Shizuka could only mumble. The blonde was looking past Saya, her expression horrified and wounded.

Saya couldn't bring herself to say anything in response to the obvious desire on the nurse's face to help others. Especially when it seemed like the nurse seemed to realize that even the others that had survived the monster's attack were grievously wounded.

It was only a matter of time until they sadly joined the rest of the others in the hereafter.

"Come on," Saya then said suddenly a few seconds later, unable to think of anything else to really say. Without waiting for a reply, she started to swiftly leave the gore-covered rec room, careful to guide Alice out of the room whilst keeping her eyes covered. She'd already seen enough death, after all.

"W-Where to?" Shizuka asked as she and Hayashi-sensei followed after her.

Saya's already grim expression grew grimmer. "My home is no longer safe." She practically spat out those words, filled with torturous grief. "It's time to leave it."

There was still a chance her parents could drive back the zombies and reseal the gate, but with so many people already dead, such a feat would be nothing more than a pyric victory at best. And any other survivors would no doubt be quick to release all their shock and grief on them afterwards. The chaos now would only end up being replaced with a different kind of chaos in that situation.

It truly, sincerely pained her to think this, but leaving here truly was the only option.

She grimaced as she kept on the move.

If nothing else, she supposed that this situation decided for them all to keep their group together.

* * *

Saeko couldn't help but let out a rather uncharacteristic battle cry as she swung her blade and took down yet another zombie, severing its head from its thin and wrangled neck.

Sweat soaked through her clothes along with coagulated blood that had gotten on them from her battle thus far, seemingly weighing her down due to the thickness.

It made her skin crawl too, to have the remnants of the undead stick to her like this, disturbing her mind.

The only good thing to come out of this thus far was that she'd managed to fight her way over to where Souichirou Takagi and his remaining men were at in order to cover one another.

However, with that 'dog' now back in the picture, this action of hers hardly made much of a difference.

Especially since the monster was picking off the men here with a terrifying viciousness.

"Watch ou-!" one of the remaining shooters tried to say to another one, only for the monster to suddenly switch targets and blitz the man, its many teeth completely shredding the entire right side of his face. Not even bone was left behind as the monster devoured most of his head in an instant.

The monster wasn't done just yet either, pivoting as it landed and using its tail to sweep a retreating man off his feet and pouncing on him. Even as the others concentrated fire on the monster, it didn't back off and proceeded to utterly maul the downed man, who screamed in agony as the monster ravaged his torso.

When it backed off just several seconds later, most of the man's torso was completely gone, his organs eaten and his spine severed. He was very much dead… but not for long, his skin growing pale and his eyes growing milky in hue as the remaining upper half of his body started to lurch up and crawl towards the nearest person.

He'd become a zombie, just like that.

His formerly fellow comrades didn't waste any time in putting a bullet into his skull, killing him for good but not without an obvious pang of regret.

And the monster, seemingly unfazed as bullets pierced its thick skin somewhat, growled as it backed off, allowing the other zombies to have a turn at them.

Or so Saeko thought, before the monster suddenly lunged for her and Souichirou with a speed that would put cars to shame. It would seem that although it didn't quite have enough room to achieve its full speed, even a portion of it was still enough to be beyond human capabilities.

Even so, the distance between them allowed her and her fellow swordsman to do a small roll to avoid it – and counterattack.

She grunted and swung her sword, cutting into the 'dog's flesh as it zoomed right past her. She could see Souichirou having done the same to the monster's other side.

Their swords didn't do much harm to it, however, the monster just barely hissing from the attacks while their blade just barely cut a few inches into its thick body.

What looked like blood leaked from the new wounds slowly, but Saeko highly doubted it'd bleed out at this rate, assuming such a thing was even possible for this nightmarish creature anyways.

That said, the monster truly seemed to back off this time and the zombies now charged forth. Saeko and Souichirou stood side by side once more and started to attack in tandem, cutting down entire swaths of the undead as they rapidly approached, while the remaining men assisted them with gunfire.

But the gunfire wasn't as plentiful as before and with reason – they were running out of ammo. And when they did so, they were quick to be overwhelmed by the undead as they would rush through the opening in their dwindling formation and pile on the men, who howled in pain as the zombies beat and bit into them.

Even as she fought on, her muscles screaming for rest all the while, Saeko was able to come to the grim realization that reclaiming the gate and closing it was very much a lost cause now, unless a miracle suddenly occurred.

It was only a matter of time until they were all overwhelmed and either killed outright or bitten by a zombie or that monster and join their hellish ranks.

It was a ridiculous moment to realize that the former scenario seemed far more appealing.

"…Go."

Saeko nearly slowed upon that one word being uttered so quietly to her from the man next to her. She even risked taking her eyes off the next wave of zombies and now prowling monster to look to Souichirou in shock.

The man too spared her a brief glance, his expression sad but resolute. "This battle was lost the moment that monster appeared – anyone killed by it who didn't have their head destroyed in the process come back as the undead seconds later… and the horde outside is only growing too. You must escape."

Saeko deflected the incoming biting attack of a zombie – one that looked like a kid, much to her heart's extreme discontent – and kicked the zombie away before responding. "What of you and your men? Or your wife?"

"I will not falter in my duty – I will continue to fight." As if to emphasize this point, he rammed a shoulder into a big zombie and then swung his blade at an upwards angle, cutting through it and another thinner zombie behind it. "As will my wife and men, I'm sure. But I will not let my daughter or her friends die this night. So go, find the her and your friends and any others still alive and flee at the first chance you get. My men and I will try to keep all attention on us."

"T-Takagi-san…" Saeko said. With her darker side satiated for the time being, she was able to view this situation much more rationally now and was already backing away. Nonetheless, she did so reluctantly; it just felt so wrong for her to run.

"Go!" he roared, his one spoken word managing to briefly overpower the gunfire and screaming zombies. "You all still have much to do in this world."

"You heard the boss, young lady," suddenly spoke one of the remaining men, who'd managed to come up near her, reloading his gun with his final magazine while the others provided cover fire for him and Souichirou. He shot her a grin, fatigued and scared, but determined. "We'll take it from here."

He then marched past her and rejoined his remaining group to continue shooting.

Left utterly speechless, Saeko could do nothing more than to retreat more and more until she finally began to turn around and head for the mansion -.

-Only to pause as a veritable small army came running out of the house. Apparently, they'd taken down the barricade to the front door.

Saeko was quick to recognize the rest of her group at the very forefront of the crowd, seeing Takashi and Miyamoto-san and Hirano-kun in particular all but leading the charge alongside Yuriko Takagi. She could see Takagi-san along with Shizuka, Alice and Zeke, and Hayashi-sensei there too.

The rest of the crowd appeared to be made up of some other survivors that had presumably been hiding in various parts of the mansion while the vast majority of the massive group were the remaining men that worked for the Takagis.

"Open fire! Provide them cover!" Yuriko demanded, the normally demure and soft-spoken woman roaring the command with a loud intensity that made it clear she had more than just pure charisma in common with her husband.

The men spread out and swiftly started to shoot, a hailstorm of bullets dropping zombie after zombie in record time. Even if the zombies weren't actually killed, entire limbs and torsos were still reduced to mulch, drastically dropping their immediate threat level.

Even the 'dog,' who'd been about to charge at the crowd, ended up being momentarily cowed by the concentrated attack, hundreds of bullets sinking into its thick hide and drawing more blood. Its charge slowed and it hissed as it dashed off to the side in an attempt to circle around them. It would seem not even it was willing to simply take such a hailstorm of lead, especially not when some men that had been standing near the back now stepped forward with grenade launchers and started to fire at the monster as it moved well away from any of the others.

Explosion after explosion rang out, but the monster avoided almost all of them, with only a few having occurred close enough to it to harm the creature.

But as sudden as this turnaround had been, the tide of the battle began to shift back in favor of the zombies and the monster.

The men wielding grenade launchers had to reload and now that it was far enough away, the monster began to circle back around, willing to brave the bullets since the accuracy of them would suffer even from this range.

And all the while, more of the zombie horde outside the walls started to creep in, requiring the remaining men to choose between shooting at them or the monster.

Things were quickly looking bad again.

And Saeko, having used this brief moment to join up with the group again, could only watch with dwindling hope as the odds started to turn against them.

"Quickly!" Yuriko exclaimed. "Head out the gate! We'll provide a path!"

She walked forth at a steady pace, machine gun in hand and with an almost ludicrous expertise, killed zombie after zombie in rapid succession, able to swiftly account for each one's differing heights and charging postures and putting just a few rounds in each one's skull.

Several others stepped forward to join her and Saeko saw Hirano-kun about to do the same, only to be held back by an angry Takagi-san.

As a pathway started to open up, the relative few survivors were quick to flee, panic evident in their expressions.

Some made it out the gate and what became of them, Saeko didn't know. But others didn't, more zombies hearing them run past them and changing targets from Yuriko and her men to the runners.

That was when the monster began its attack in earnest once more, jumping high and with a ridiculous speed, causing plenty of fired grenades to miss their marks and explode harmlessly up in the air as the monster landed in the crowd.

It crushed some poor soul under its sheer weight and then directed its mass of teeth for a head at a nearby shooter and from that mass of teeth shot out its tongue, wrapping around the man's waist and pulled his upper body into its mouth.

Blood and gore spurted from the mouth as it quickly grinded the screaming man into mush for it to devour and it quickly ran forward, swiping at any others near it.

Now more than ever was the time for her and the others to run, the monster quickly approaching them at this pace.

Something that Hirano-kun promptly pointed out. "It's coming! Run!"

Saeko was quick to obey that particular order as were the others.

All except for one – Takagi-san.

The pinkette ran, but at a noticeably slower speed than the others. The girl, despite clearly understanding the circumstances, seemed almost reluctant to run for safety at full speed. It took Hirano-kun and Takashi-kun who was already helping a hurt Miyamoto-san move to pull Takagi-san along.

Saeko grimaced, not in annoyance or anger, but rather in understanding. This was the girl's home after all, all of these people so willing to sacrifice themselves for the others being people she's grown up with for pretty much all her life.

And her parents…

Saeko found herself unable to continue looking at the girl and could only continue to run alongside Shizuka and Hayashi-sensei, the latter carrying Alice and Zeke.

Despite the situation, she couldn't help but pray for the safety of both Yuriko and Souichirou, if only for their daughter's sake.

As she did so, she continued to run, bitterly so.

* * *

Even in the midst of this chaotic battle, Souichirou spared a glance to the survivors as they all ran out the gate, his wife and men doing their best to provide a safe path for them.

Some made it out. Others didn't.

And after decapitating yet another of the undead, he spotted his daughter and her friends swiftly approaching the gate.

However, Saya looked to be running quite slowly, even with both Komuro and Hirano practically carrying her by each arm. She was practically fighting against them to break free, but both boys – no, men – refused to let go.

He watched as the girl struggled to break free even harder after she spotted him only for both men to try that much harder to reel her in and take her to safety.

Ah, how it pained him to see his daughter in this state. With how crazy this entire incident had been, Saya and he had had very little time to truly spend with one another and see how they were doing. Instead, in the brief time they'd had together since her safe return here, it'd been spent on trying to plan out how to keep this place secure for other survivors.

Plans that have now gone completely up in smoke.

Suddenly self-aware of his usually hard expression hardening even more, Souichirou tried to soften it just a bit and nodded towards his daughter, an action meant to somehow reassure her. Instead, it only seemed like she was about to cry.

But before she could do so, Komuro and Hirano had managed to drag her out the gate with the rest of their group following them.

His daughter out of sight but certainly not out of mind, Souichirou swung his blade much more viciously than need be at the next zombie foolish enough to approach him, cleaving the unnamed rotting woman completely in two before letting out a roar that all but dared the other zombies to try and do him in.

However, just as several more began to dash towards him, several shots rang out from nearby. The zombies that would have been his next victims fell lifelessly to the ground, holes in each one of their heads.

He didn't even need to look to know who'd saved him the trouble.

"Yuriko…" He murmured the name of his wife quietly, almost sorrowfully.

Despite all the noise around them, his wife seemed to hear him as she closed the distance between them.

"We truly didn't get to spend much time together as a family… yes?" she asked softly as she stood close to him.

"…Yes," he agreed as he readied his blade. His men's forward march had started to slow at this time, the advantage soon being regained by the zombies and that monster as it blitzed around the area at ridiculous speeds. Bodies, both living and undead, flew and not always in one piece as its many teeth tore through them all.

It looked like the monster was beginning to head their way, but not before putting down his men first, it seemed. Even so, they didn't make it easy for it or the other zombies, several small groups that had formed as their large ranks were broken down converging around the monster to keep it pinned in one spot.

All the while, Yuriko spoke.

"But even so… I can't help but feel somewhat glad," she said as she reloaded her weapon. Her smile was small but brimming with emotion. "If nothing else, we can at least rest assured that she'll be safe."

For the first time in a long time, Souichirou smiled genuinely. "Indeed."

His daughter's group was a rather lively bunch and still didn't quite have much cohesion from what she's told him. And yet, he could tell from the brief glimpses he's gotten of them and from his meetings with just a few of them that they'd do whatever they could to protect one another.

As fresh faced as they were to the battle for survival, Souichirou could tell that they had the spirit of true warriors. Felling them would be far from easy.

So long as Saya was with them, the man couldn't imagine her being killed by any of these barbaric undead any time soon. Not even those hell-spawned monsters would succeed.

But that all said…

"Let's do our part in keeping them safe too," he stated firmly.

Even with all the gunfire and shrieking here drawing the attention of the zombies in the neighborhood and beyond, there was still a chance the undead would be drawn to the comparatively quieter noises made by the survivors fleeing from here, Saya and her friends included.

In which case, it was only proper as a father to help keep the attention off her and the others.

Yuriko giggled ever so slightly in agreement as she stepped forward alongside him. Despite how light her giggle sounded, however, he saw a determined gleam in her eyes as she readied her weapon. Every slender but strong muscle in her voluptuous body was tensed and prepared for battle, shown off by her dress which was torn in some places to allow her more ease of movement.

He truly felt blessed by the gods to have such a lovely and amazing woman as his wife.

"Here we go…!" he then said as he focused back on the danger at hand.

Said danger, that disgusting dog-like monster, had now torn through the men that had been standing between it and them, entrails and blood flying through the sky as it ran forth on all fours.

With nary an ounce of fear, Souichirou howled in challenge as he charged forth to meet it, his wife taking aim at the monster as it howled back in response.

They neared one another and then struck.

* * *

The wickerman-esque monster hissed as it remained in its fog form. It had known that light wasn't exactly kind to it, but the sheer intensity of light that had come from that flashbang had truly been ridiculous, having left most of its physical body covered in agonizing burns.

Knowing that fighting on with such distracting wounds would only end in its death, it had no choice but to retreat and had done so without even an ounce of shame. Its thirst for blood was nowhere near great enough to overwhelm its desire to survive.

That said, it hadn't completely retreated, having only left the vast property and taken up a spot atop another equally tall housing structure nearby, the roaring of guns and the undead and those humans still very much audible from here.

It also spotted a number of humans fleeing out through the gate and well away from the veritable death trap the shelter had become. These fleeing humans, for the most part, were going unnoticed by the other zombies that ran towards the battleground, more focused on that noise rather than the huffing and puffing humans that ran anywhere far away with all they had.

Its hunger urged it to try and take some more as prey and others to play with, but for once the monster opted to not listen to said hunger. Its wounds were aggravating it a bit too much to risk another fight. And although its wounds were healing much faster while in its fog form, it would still take until tomorrow night or even the night after for it to be back in top condition.

It pained the monster, but it would have to let these humans go. That said, it did try to take mental notes on which way certain groups of humans ran off to. If it got lucky, perhaps it could catch up with some of these groups before zombies or one of its brethren did them in. But again, such an option would have to wait until after it fully heals.

Besides, it was still much more interested in one particular group.

And it'd done its best to keep its eyes on said group as they too escaped from that mansion.

It'd known dealing with them wouldn't have been that easy, but the resistance that boy and the girl had put up alongside those other humans had genuinely surprised it, even impressed it. Even that girl with the pink hair had done better than it had ever expected; while far from a physical fighter, the girl had been wily enough to grab that flashbang from somewhere hidden and use the weapon against it. No doubt the girl would remember the weapon's effectiveness and try thinking up other ways to counter it should she get a chance to catch her breath and reflect on all this.

Of course, as great as its interest was in this group, the monster couldn't bring itself to follow them no matter how much it wanted to. Again, its wounds were aggravating it too much for it to even try to give chase, even if only half-heartedly.

Still, it took special note as to which direction the group ran off in.

Once it heals, it'll follow but not completely. It's going to need a new strategy first if it wishes to truly break each member under its heels.

Even so, it could imagine them putting up a significant challenge…. Something that began to fill its dark heart with a sense of anticipation.

It genuinely looked forward to their next encounter.

It certainly would be memorable.

* * *

Some odd number of hours later, a shift began to occur within the very fabric of reality itself.

The origin of said shift occurred specifically within the country known as the United States of America…

Or what remained of it, that is.

Not so long ago, one of those creatures that had formed out in the ocean had launched an attack that left most of the eastern half of the continent under water.

This was fact duly acknowledged before ultimately being dismissed. It wouldn't deter the arrival of this current entity one bit.

Said entity was formed directly from this shift in reality.

It was clearly humanoid in appearance, but that was where whatever similarities it shared with humans ended.

The entity was tall, easily over seven feet in height and possessing a physique composed entirely of muscle. Or so it would seem to the naked eye. In actuality, this entity's body was made of something that wasn't matter yet functioned in a similar fashion.

Said body was pitch black in color, so much so that it functioned like a void, drawing in all other nearby colors and causing the intricate patterns along its entire body to glow like a star yet without blinding anything that would look upon it.

Its face was shaped similarly to a human's, but flat, possessing no nose or mouth. However, it possessed eyes, the 'matter' that was functioning like sclera being black like the rest of its body while the irises were a color not of the universe, also possessing a strange design to them that rippled with even the slightest of movements, like rippling waves in a body of water.

It had hair, or at least what looked like hair, long and wild, defying gravity as it whipped around behind and above its head despite the lack of a breeze, the color of it shifting with ever y passing nanosecond and each one being a color beyond what a human could ever describe with words alone.

This entity had formed in a small city that had been unfortunate enough to be just within range of that monster's attack, flooded, with entire buildings and roads having been reduced to little more than debris from the shockwave alone and now stuck at the bottom of the still present water.

Debris wasn't the only thing present – bodies were there too, or at least what remained of them.

Humans and animals, undead and even some of those monsters that had formed when this entity had first tried to come here.

It ignored all this and instead walked along _through_ the massive body of water as if it wasn't even there.

Time, in all its forms, held absolutely no meaning to this entity and although it was something it's come to understand intellectually in the brief time it's been here, it had no reason to rush along.

So it walked, unmindful that this infinitesimally small part of itself that it had created from an even more infinitesimally small portion of its true self could easily lose form in a matter of minutes or hours.

It knew where it was going, guided by a connection that not even it could express, though that was more due to it knowing so little of this plane of existence.

It headed towards what was known as a residential area, an area that had suffered very much like the rest of the city although the water level here was noticeably lower due to being further away. The entity walked the street, passing by sinking and shriveling corpses and cars and more as it headed for one particular part of the area.

It eventually reached a house, suburban in style but now little more than shambles. Again, this was something it ignored, smashing through what remained of the wall simply by walking into it.

The entity marched forward and up the stairs, this time finally pausing as it neared its desired destination.

It passed by a body that looked male, but it paid little attention to the features of said long dead human so it could've easily been a human female for all it knew.

Speaking of which…

It headed down the hallway and into a room that it paid very little attention to. What it did pay attention to, however, were the two people within it.

A woman, lovely by the standards of humans, it supposed, and a child that was also female. Said child must be no older than four years of age by the standards of time within this reality.

Both were still alive despite having been submerged for a whole day, maybe even two. However, both the woman and the girl, clearly mother and daughter respectively, hadn't quite been spared from the effects of being underwater for so long, their bodies looking withered as they remained pinned under a heavy section of the thick roof that had likely collapsed on them prior to the massive tidal wave.

This was no surprise to the entity, for it was through its power that these two were still alive. It had business with them and until then, it couldn't allow them to expire just yet.

However, upon seeing them and studying their forms as they lied there unconscious, it could tell that neither was the one it sought.

Emotion was something not quite common to it and so it took a few minutes of standing there like a statue for it realize that it was feeling disappointed.

Its goal left unsatisfied for a second time, it released the two unconscious females from its protection.

By sheer coincidence, the adult seemed to stir and wake up just prior to this.

So the woman was most shocked as she saw it standing there before her. The entity could see that somehow, the human woman recognized it.

Interesting.

But not enough for it to reconsider the revocation of its protection.

It stood there and watched as the young girl drowned for good in her state of unconsciousness. Her passing, although uncomfortable, had been quick.

Not so much for the mother, who struggled to hold a breath that she'd lost many hours ago. She flailed futilely as her lungs finally gave and her body went still.

The entity – the Demon – watched this happen most impassively.

Again, it had failed in its self-imposed goal. A most saddening turn of events.

However, the Demon was far from deterred – although slight, it could still sense others that could potentially be the one it sought.

Much like the two that had died just now, these others were being offered its protection too, the Demon unwilling to let its one opportunity go to waste because of something like death. Although certain it could resurrect those that died, that was something it had absolutely no experience in actually doing. All it did know was that it could perform such a feat if need be.

However, it wasn't sure it could also restore the soul in such a scenario and the soul was most important for its goal. Therefore, resurrection wasn't something it wished to do. Best just to offer its protection until it found the right one.

The Demon then turned and began to leave the room – only for its body to ripple and then break apart, disappearing into absolute nothingness.

This bothered the Demon not one bit. After all, this body had merely been one it had constructed in an attempt to exist on this level of existence temporarily, one that it could recreated again and again as needed. However, it would seem that even this heavily restricted body was still far above the space-time continuum here and had ultimately been rejected by it.

No matter. It will learn from this second failure and attempt to adjust this restricted body accordingly until it could exist in this world for an extended period without destroying it all.

All for the sake of finding the right one, all for the sake of its goal…

Until such a thing was achieved, the Demon would not stop.

Indeed, it was only just getting started.

* * *

 **Done! Bet you didn't see that ending coming!**

 **Man, as much as I want to start talking about the Demon, I just can't! It'd be spoiling! But I still want to talk about it, ahhh!**

 **Well, my frustration on that front aside, writing the ending definitely has me excited for the other chapters that I will be writing in the future for this fic. Let's just say the Demon is a lot simpler yet more complicated than anything you guys may now be thinking of it, ha ha.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	12. Chapter 12

And again I'm back in record time! Hmm, seems like the first several chapters of my novel will be fairly short and to the point at this rate, which means being able to bounce back and forth between it and this fic more quickly. Well, it feels like it'll be that way, anyways based on how things seem to be progressing so far. But again, that could very well change.

In any case, many thanks for the understanding.

Also, glad you all liked the last chapter so much, especially when the Demon showed up. Man, do I have plans for that entity, ha ha. Really am eager to write more scenes with it and more about it in general, so much so that I really need to remind myself constantly to pace this fic lest I go nuts and end up revealing more than what needs to be revealed during certain scenes.

That said, I'm not planning on dragging this fic out all that much so things should be progressing at a pretty steady pace as far as the twists and turns of this fic go. Hope you'll love what I plan to unveil in time.

Not much else to say other than that, beyond having a lot more movies to look forward to now, ha ha ha. The only drawback is that most of them are next year… sigh, oh how the waiting kills me.

Chapter 12

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 **AJFIOSFJOINIjifsiosniogniushgusdhHIIOGSIOGHISGIOSDNJFNJSIOIOAJFIUkjiIKJIOI**

Takashi's eyes opened so wide that they felt like they would burst right out of the sockets. The teen himself was drenched in a freezing sweat and his mouth had open in a silent and painful scream.

Taking a moment to calm himself, he ultimately sighed.

Again, more gibberish – and that might be putting it liberally – coursing through his mind. But gibberish or not, it had once again filled him with an immense sense of dread, even terror.

And once more, he couldn't even imagine why.

"Fuck me…" he muttered in frustration. Just when had he even drifted off to sleep anyways? Sure, he's been tired as hell for a while now, but he hadn't expected to just pass the fuck out like that.

At least he hadn't fallen out of the chair he'd been resting in. This much was a minor relief, if only because he managed to avoid waking up the others who were still very much asleep.

But of course, he was now the exception.

Sighing again, he got up and went for a little walk.

It hasn't even been a full twelve hours since running from Saya's place and here they all were, the shock of what had occurred having tuckered them all out so much that they'd risked breaking into some random house to try properly resting up, but not until after making as careful a sweep of this place as was possible to avoid any nasty surprises during the dead of night.

Now it was nearing noon and still they all slept, so utterly drained that Takashi imagined no one else would be waking up for probably a few more hours at the very least.

He had no idea how many city blocks they'd covered in their mad dash for safety, but if he had to try and ballpark it, he'd say they were a solid two dozen blocks away, well away from the downtown area of the city and certainly far away from the more populated area of the residential district that Saya lived in.

And on that note…

Takashi had been napping here on the first floor, the chair he'd been resting on located in the dining room area, a quaint but spacious area. Hirano along with Saeko were resting in the living room, more than large enough for them to comfortably claim each couch that had been there as their place of rest. As for the others, they all slept on the second floor, having made use of the now abandoned bedrooms.

The messiness of said rooms had initially worried him when they first arrived here, but after their sweep last night, it seemed like the homeowners had made the wise decision of getting the hell out of dodge when shit started going down.

Practically tiptoeing through the living room to get to the stairs, he paused for a split second to look at both Hirano and Saeko, the two having volunteered to serve as sentries against the sole entrance to the house, though both were currently dead asleep, pun unintended.

Takashi planned to simply move on and let them continue resting, but he nearly leapt out of his skin when Hirano suddenly shifted and opened his eyes.

"Jesus man…" he muttered, his heart pounding a mile a minute at the suddenness of his fellow male's actions.

Hirano had the decency to look apologetic. "Sorry… couldn't sleep."

At that, Takashi grumbled. "Yeah… I bet." He all but whispered this response, partially to avoid waking Saeko who genuinely was asleep still but also because he could scarcely bring himself to dispute Hirano's words.

Not that he could blame the gun otaku for not being able to sleep so much; for a solid hour or two after they'd left the Takagis' place, the sounds of battle had still been ongoing, a sign that Saya's parents and their forces had given the undead and that fucking a monster one hell of a fight. But afterwards, the sounds of battle eventually subsided and all that had remained had been the sounds of the undead, all of them having been crying out in rage in unison.

Yeah, not exactly the most pleasant of things to be listening to while trying to rest. Exhausted or not, he was amazed the others had been able to fall asleep, himself included, if only for a while, he did recall the sun rising before apparently knocking out.

"Think those zombies are still there?" Hirano asked.

"Maybe. They may have just upped and left after the fighting was done," Takashi found himself saying almost unconsciously, the teen's slight adrenaline rush from his nightmare and Hirano's unintended scare now wearing off and leaving him feeling even more fatigued than ever before. Now he was feeling more focused on simply remaining on his two feet.

So focused on this, in fact, that it took him a solid minute to realize how silent Hirano now was despite being awake.

When he focused back on the otaku, it was to see Hirano gazing at him most intensely, only for the teen to then blink and glance away when he saw Takashi finally look his way.

"…What?" Takashi eventually asked, feeling somewhat awkward.

"Nothing," Hirano said quickly. "It's just… once again, you didn't really get much sleep. Nightmare? I've been awake for a while now actually. Heard you acting all fitfully in that chair."

Takashi winced. "Yeah, another nightmare, I guess." A pause. "That can't be the only reason you're awake though, right?"

This wasn't the first time Hirano had seemed to study him so carefully and it kind of put him on edge. The last thing anyone needed was this group to start falling to pieces for one dumb reason or another.

Hirano grimaced, but not in annoyance at him or anything. Something else was bothering him. "Takagi-san…"

Ah.

Saya had been a real wreck when they made a break from her home. Even if the idea to run for it had initially been her idea, it definitely couldn't have been an easy decision for her to make. This was something compounded by the fact they had to run for it while her parents remained behind to cover them and the other survivors.

The pinkette had been pretty unresponsive last night when they got here, only shuffling about while they'd checked the place for dangers before secluding herself in what appeared to be the guest bedroom of this place.

"She's awake," Hirano said. "Been awake all night. Could hear her stomping around up there and stuff at random intervals."

He sighed as he finally sat up. His expression looked pained.

"Have you checked on her?" Takashi asked of him.

Hirano nodded. "Just the one time, though – she didn't exactly feel like talking to anyone, you know? But now… I think she really should speak to someone, just to get her grief off her chest right now."

Hirano looked pointedly at him.

Obviously, Takashi caught on instantly. "Me?" Still, he couldn't help but be somewhat surprised.

Hirano nodded. "I have a feeling she'll listen to you if you say something."

Takashi quirked an eyebrow, perplexed. "Why me?"

Hirano's expression grew somewhat complicated for a moment before the otaku grinned somewhat bittersweetly. "You two go back, don't you? You're childhood friends – she likes you."

Takashi had to make an effort to not snort at that. "She practically hates my guts; calls me stupid all the time, been doing that for years."

Hirano looked at him and chuckled quietly. "I think you missed my point… but anyways, you're still the best one to go talk to her now that she's had enough time to herself."

Takashi could only remain silent in the wake of such a statement, but only for a few seconds. "Why not you though? I mean, don't you like her?"

He tried to state that last sentence somewhat jokingly. But even then, he ended up sounding pretty serious about it. Hirano had stuck to Saya like glue almost all this time. He'd seen the way the guy looks at Saya too – he had to have a crush on her or something, crazy as that sounds considering the girl's harsh personality.

Again, Hirano chuckled. "I admire her as a person – so smart and confident and gung-ho about what needs to get done and unwilling to take anyone's shit… traits that I don't have. Traits that I want to have but likely never will."

Hirano then held up his hands upon seeing his astounded look. "Don't get me wrong though, Takagi-san is a really beautiful girl and all… but I don't actually like her like that, believe it or not. Besides, even if I did, she…"

He trailed off and looked away.

Takashi could only stare at the gun otaku and gape, genuinely surprised by what he was hearing. "Hirano…" he began, only to trail off.

And before he could even begin to collect his thoughts and continue, Hirano cut him off. "Anyways, now's the time to finally go and talk to her. Again, it needs to be you…. I'm counting on you, Komuro. Go take care of the one I admire."

Takashi, boggled, could only nod dumbly before then shaking his head to snap himself out of his current state. Upon doing so, he gave Hirano a firmer nod and slowly began to make his way up the stairs nearby.

The surprise he just received aside, Hirano did make a good point. They all had let Saya have her time alone to process things and grieve. But now… now someone really did have to talk to her, lest her own emotions eat away at her and make her do something stupid.

Takashi, despite himself, almost snorted at that thought.

Saya? Doing something stupid? As if.

But even so… something had to be done.

He just hoped he was up to the challenge.

* * *

Not for the first time, Saya sniffed, trying to keep her nose from running once more.

She'd gotten pretty much no sleep throughout the night and had opted for pacing the entire room here out of fear for her parents and the others under their command.

Intellectually, she acknowledged their actions – as the veritable leaders of the entire 'camp' her home had become, it was their sworn duty to protect them all as best as they could.

But as their daughter, she wished they'd come with her and the others. She wished for this so very much.

And knowing very well how many zombies there'd been by the time they'd escaped plus that monster, Saya knew her parents' chances of survival were extremely slim.

And naturally, her heart had argued fiercely with her mind about this. The result had been her angrily stomping around, swatting things aside in this room, like the lamp and the bed's pillows and sheets, which now lied all crumbled up the floor. It was a good thing the walls of this house were fairly thick or else she would've probably ended up drawing zombies to this place.

That simply wouldn't do; she wouldn't dare let her parents' efforts go to such waste.

But even then…

For what felt like the hundredth time, tears began to well up in her eyes and she removed her glasses yet again to wipe away at them. She shuddered and heaved as she did so, trying desperately to not actually cry.

She was somewhat unsuccessful, for a sob escaped her and she could feel another one coming-.

-Only to be cut off by a knock at the door.

It proved to be enough of a distraction for her to immediately switch tracks.

"What is it, geek?" She flinched at how harsh her own voice sounded, feeling even a little regretful of it immediately… but not enough to try and take back those irritable words. "Come to bother me again?"

"It's me, Saya," came the voice of Takashi. "Can I come in?"

Saya could only blink several times in surprise? The idiot? Coming to check on her? It took her completely by surprise for some reason, so much so that before she could formulate a response, she heard the door slowly open.

"I didn't give you an answer yet," she quietly snapped, not bothering to look at Takashi. "For all you knew, I could've been in some indecent state."

"You're too prim and proper to be caught in that kind of state," he said jokingly yet softly.

Saya couldn't help but snort in response. "Shocking, you made a good point."

True, she'd never dare to be caught in any state less than perfect if she could help it.

A silence then fell between them after this and Saya finally turned from where she sat on the disheveled bed to look at Takashi. The teen looked somewhat unsure of what else to say.

Saya didn't dare give him anything to work with… for a moment, that is.

"So what do you want?" she asked quietly. "Come to check on me for that fat loser? Want to make sure I'm not going to break down?"

"Well… yeah," Takashi said sheepishly. "Just thought I should check on you is all."

"Then considered me checked on." Her response was delivered as flatly as could be. "Now leave me alone."

At this, Takashi's uncertain expression faded away and a much more serious expression took its place. "Saya, you know I can't do that."

"What, worried for me? Kind of late for that, considering you've never worried for me before."

"I've worried over you plenty of times before."

"Really? Couldn't tell with all the times you ran away from me in school before."

"In my defense, no one likes being lectured. Especially not so viciously. Seriously, I think you could kill zombies with that scathing tongue of yours."

Much to her own surprise, Saya grunted in amusement at that comment. "Never knew I was so terrifying in your eyes."

"Never thought I'd see the day where you underestimate your own abilities like that…" Takashi mumbled. "You're plenty terrifying."

"Gee thanks, that really cheered me up. So damn glad that geek sent you up here in his place."

"Saya…" Takashi began, sounding somewhat annoyed though he tried to hide it. "You know Hirano is just trying to look out for you. So are the others, even if they're currently asleep."

Something about what he just said seriously irked her. And before she knew it, she was on her feet, pivoting so that she now fully faced her childhood friend.

"I don't need them to look out for me!" she hissed out venomously. "What I need right now is to know if my parents are okay!"

Amazing how just some random words could trigger such a strong reaction from her. Just went to show how frazzled her psychological state currently was.

But that said, she wasn't done just yet.

Her vision, already blurry from having taken off her glasses, grew even blurrier as the unshed tears in her eyes now fell with abandon, sobs wracking her petite frame. Even so, she approached Takashi angrily.

"What I need right now is mama and papa here with me, alive and in one damned piece! What I need right now is to be able to hug them both and be hugged back, to know that if nothing else we'll be together! What I _don't_ need is your damn concern, especially when it's not doing anything for me!"

Her tirade was quite brief, all things considered and delivered in a hissing yet intense tone. But even this left her entire frame panting, gasping for air.

Whatever image of self-control she'd had before was now completely gone, her rawest emotions now bare for Takashi to see… and she couldn't care less anymore. If he thought her to be pathetic, then he could go right ahead and think that all he wants of her.

In fact, she was now halfway expecting him to say just as much to her right now.

What happened next, however, took her completely by surprise.

It happened faster than she could blink. One instant, he'd been standing just a foot away from her. The next, his arms were around her.

He was _hugging_ her.

"Saya," he began softly, literally lifting her off the ground to hold her head against his chest (the height difference between the two was considerable, after all) while his breath tickled the top of her head. "I'm sorry…. But chances are your parents are dead."

This was a thought she's had plenty of times throughout the night. But to have the words spoken aloud and by this guy of all people was enough to ensure her continuing silence, the pinkette shocked to the point of no longer moving.

"But you're not dead," Takashi continued. "You're still alive and kicking in one piece and that's exactly what your parents wanted. They gave up their lives to ensure this. And you may not really think much of me or the others, but we'd do the same as them if meant keeping you alive. But if you keep acting like this – don't get me wrong, you have a right to be this angry – you're going to eventually do something that'll put you at grave risk… and that'll only be spitting on your parents' efforts and on our feelings too."

His hold on her tightened a bit, almost painfully so before he slowly started to put her down. But even after doing so, he kept his hands firmly on her shoulders.

Still stunned, all she could do was look up into Takashi's eyes, suddenly aware of how sharp and intense his normally depressed and tired features were. And have his hands always been this big and strong?

"Saya…" Takashi continued, his intense gaze softening a bit. "It's alright to let it out. If that'll help you settle down now and keep you from doing something reckless later, then by all means, cry."

He stepped back just a bit and removed his hands from her shoulders. He spread his arms wide open and stared at her, his gaze softening even more.

Before she even knew it, Saya's entire body seemed to tremble… and then she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his torso and burying her face into his chest.

Not even a second later, she began to genuinely cry, letting out all the emotions she'd been trying and failing to suppress this past night.

She had no idea how long the two of them ended up standing there nor when Takashi had wrapped his arms around her shuddering form as one sob after another wrecked her entire figure. It could've been barely a minute or much longer for all she knew.

In any case, she began to feel better after a while, lighter even. Enough to crack an almost sardonic smile.

"You know," she began, her voice kind of cracking due to how much crying she'd just done into his chest. "You kind of sucked at that speech just now – so awkward and corny."

"I'll make sure to do better next time," Takashi immediately shot back, but the teen was smiling a bit, showing he obviously didn't mean anything bad by this. "…Did I help out a bit?"

"…Yeah. Surprisingly, you did, idiot." Saya mumbled, her usual nickname for him lacking the heat it always had.

She then became aware she was still hugging him and she found herself blushing yet unwilling to let go. Still, she wouldn't dare reveal the redness in her cheeks to him and kept her head bowed slightly to avoid being seen.

"Glad to hear," Takashi said. "And just for the record, I did mean everything I said, Saya. Your parents wouldn't want to see you like this and they definitely wouldn't want you to do anything stupid in the future either. And I know I haven't been the most reliable guy around, but I really will do what I can to keep you safe. The others too."

"I… I know that."

Indeed, she did. As awkward as they all seemed to be around each other still, they were all still together. There'd been plenty of chances for any one of them to have focused solely on themselves at the expense of the others, yet the thought never seemed to have crossed any of their minds. In a situation as fucked up as a zombie apocalypse, that really said something about their characters.

Sure, they all had their faults, but that was all part of being human, after all. This idiot's unreliability in the past was an example of this fact…. As was her own short temper and bitchiness.

Finally finding it in herself to let go of Takashi after her blush went away, Saya took a minute to wipe away any remaining tears in her eyes. She could feel Takashi's now calm stare on her as she did this.

"Don't worry – I'm calmer now," she said, thinking he was still concerned for her.

"I can tell – you're not trying to punt me out of here," Takashi joked quietly.

Saya rolled her eyes. "Moron… even I wouldn't do something like that to others." She said this while smiling now.

"Yeah? Well, let's just say all those lectures you've given me in the past have made me a little wary for my safety here."

Saya snorted as she finally regained her composure completely. "Then try not to do anything to upset me anymore." She placed her hands on her hips and levelled a stern gaze at him… or at least, tried to; she could tell her 'stern gaze' was falling pretty short, if the way his smile grew was anything to go by. "Now leave me be – having you of all people see me in this disheveled and mopey state is embarrassing enough."

"Right," Takashi said. He turned to leave, only to pause as he began to open the door. "If you need anythi-."

"I know to come get you or the porker," Saya finished. "Now leave."

Takashi chuckled quietly. "There's the Saya I know."

And with that, he left as quickly as he'd came.

Rather than tidy herself up, Saya stared at the door, the image of Takashi's back as he left just now refusing to leave her mind.

Memories from her younger years, back when their friendship had been much closer and stronger than when they'd entered high school, chose that moment to flit through her mind.

And with these memories came feelings that she'd thought she'd casted aside long ago, back when it had seemed clear to her that he and Rei would end up together.

Back then, Takashi had been so different – so lively and optimistic, a crybaby at times like any kid can often be yet surprisingly brave too, having possessed a quiet determination that had contrasted with his more talkative moments. It'd been disheartening and even angering to see how he'd eventually turned out over the years.

But now? It was slight, but she could see some traits from the old him returning during this crisis. It was enough to make her reevaluate her most recent opinion of him… and in turn, call forth old feelings she'd held about him.

The blush returned to her cheeks.

"Sheesh." She actively tried to sound annoyed now as she began to speak to herself, but to no avail. Instead, she smiled and spoke with a soft affection. "As always, that idiot is just full of surprises."

As she finally began to clean herself up, she retained the smile and blush on her face up until she finished, at which point a quiet resolve formed within her.

Right. She couldn't afford to die. Like Takashi said, that'd be spitting in her parents' faces. She had to live on.

But she resolved to not be the only one living through this apocalypse either – if need be, she'll personally drag the others with her through thick and thin.

That went double for that idiot….

The blush returned.

"Damn it," she mumbled.

Looks like her feelings were still a little turbulent right now.

She better stay here a bit longer before eventually leaving the room.

After all, she still had an image to uphold.

* * *

Rei was wide awake, lying with her head sandwiched between Shizuka's massive breasts. It made for a very nice and cool sensation, but also inspired just a tad bit of envy within her at the same time. She knew she was above average in endowments but seeing and feeling the nurse's breasts like this spawned feelings of inadequacies within her nonetheless.

But she digressed.

She'd been awake for quite some time now, having been unable to continue sleeping within this room she shared with Shizuka and Alice while Hayashi-sensei got a whole other room all to herself somehow.

She finally had the energy to get up as of a moment ago and had done so in order to head to the cold bathroom in order to just be by herself…

And when she'd tiptoed her way to the bathroom, she'd ended up having to near the room Saya was in… except she hadn't been alone in there – Takashi had been in there too.

Out of sheer curiosity and other emotions she didn't dare identify right now, Rei had paused right outside the room and had listened as best as she could to the conversation the two had been having.

She'd heard Takashi comfort Saya as best as he could along with their lightly joking dialogue afterwards.

And then when Takashi made to leave, Rei swiftly yet quietly scrambled away from the door and into the bathroom, closing the door behind her just as Takashi had opened the door to Saya's room.

The second she heard him pass by and head back downstairs, Rei sighed in relief and embarrassment. Sure, if she'd been seen by both of them in the hallway just now, it would've been a little awkward, but it wasn't as if she'd been doing anything wrong.

So why had she retreated like that just now? And why was she feeling somewhat frustrated?

In a moment of sudden and great self-awareness, the answer to her questions came to her.

"Takashi," she whispered.

Yes, the boy that both she and Saya have known ever since they were kids.

She remembered quite well just how much she and Takashi have liked each other back then along with their childish promise to get married one day. But as the two of them grew up, Takashi started to grow more and more indecisive with making the first move… along with getting more and more tired and rebellious too, at least against his own parents.

His indecisiveness and changing personality had angered her greatly and Shido's own actions against her hadn't helped either. This had been what resulted in their split before the two of them have even hooked up and ultimately had led to her dating Hisashi…

Rei grimaced as she recalled Hisashi's death, which felt like so long ago when in reality it'd only been a handful of days at most. It was scary just how much this entire apocalypse thing was screwing with her and the others.

But she fought down the anger and grief Hisashi's death brought her to focus on her current thoughts.

Now that she really thought of it, now that she really took this time to reflect on her own emotions, it seemed like she'd never quite stopped liking Takashi, after all. It would explain why she'd been so bitchy to him as of recently, probably some weird psychological self-defense mechanism or something. She was no psychology expert, but some of the cases her parents have discussed with her revealed how bizarre some justifications people came up with and believed in defense of whatever criminal actions they committed.

And with that now said…

She grimaced as she turned and gently slid down towards the floor, back against the door.

"I still like him," she muttered.

It was the only conclusion she could come to. Even though she'd genuinely liked and cared for Hisashi, here she was in this bathroom, pondering over the rekindling feelings she held for a boy she'd known for years on end.

Rei couldn't help but hate herself. It sort of felt like she was betraying Hisashi with her current line of thought but it seemed her heart wanted what it wanted, her sense of logic and reasoning be damned.

But just what was she to do about this? It's not like the apocalypse was going to take a backseat to let her fully sort out her feelings here. Even if it somehow did and she came to terms with her feelings, just what was she even supposed do from here?

Sure, she could have a private moment with Takashi, apologize for being so mean and even straight up antagonistic to him, but then what? Confess her feelings to him? After how much their relationship had deteriorated over the years, the chances of him reciprocating were pretty damn low.

Not to mention…

Rei shook her head. Things were already getting complicated enough with her self-revelations. Thinking of other variables in this new situation weren't going to help her.

"Damn it, gotta pull myself together!" She slapped her cheeks a few times as she finally stood up, prepared to wash her face a bit.

This could wait until later, when things around the world calmed down just a bit. Sure, that sounded highly improbable, but there's no way these zombies and monster could keep going indefinitely, right? Right?!

Her expression shifting constantly in response to her emotions, Rei sighed and decided 'fuck it' for the time being. There were other things that really had to get done first before focusing on this.

She reached out to turn the faucet on…

And just as she did, some of the bathroom lights suddenly flickered on, startling her. From downstairs, she could hear Takashi and Hirano immediately commenting on the lights too.

It would seem the mysterious power outage was finally over.

* * *

Fifteen minutes passes by before Kyouko wakes from her long and deep sleep. Another few minutes pass by in which she fixes up her haggard appearance, the frantic run for her life she'd done last night alongside the others having left her looking like a wreck.

It had been at this point that she realized some of the lights were on and from there, she'd swiftly gotten out of the comfortable bed and had sought out the others, who were already up and running around, turning off or on certain lights and other electronic appliances.

And if she listened outside, she could hear car alarms going off, the mysterious outage having somehow affected even cars and other appliances that really shouldn't have been affected and now those same functions returned to life.

The loud groans of the undead also filled the air, the zombies in this area and beyond somehow sounding perplexed by all the sudden noise, but Kyouko couldn't bring herself to care about this particular fact one bit so long as the zombies stayed well away from the group's current place of residence.

Now that all said, she'd swiftly aided in doing a sweep of the house with the others, making sure that any and all potentially dangerous appliances that have started up again were off and stored away.

It took them all a slow and careful half hour to do this, wanting to account for absolutely everything before finally letting out a collective breath.

Needless to say, this had been one hell of a way to start the day, for her at least since some of the others looked to have been up longer than most already.

Now that they all had settled down a bit, they all were quick to meet in the living room area. They were all feeling quite hungry but figuring out what to do next took precedence and so to quickly satiate their appetites a bit, the pantries here were raided for any and all snacks that were still in good condition.

Munching down on some cookies, Kyouko was quick to note that Takagi-san was with them and looking much better than she had yesterday when she had isolated herself.

The sight of the pinkette put Kyouko at ease. She was glad to see the girl already looking better despite the potentially horrible fate that had fallen upon her parents.

Speaking of them, the teacher certainly hoped that somehow the two of them had escaped last night… but she knew as well as the others that both Souichirou and Yuriko Takagi weren't the type to run from a battle, no matter the odds. Truly, they were courageous people deserving of respect and praise.

"Saya onee-chan, are you okay now?" Ah, and there was Alice asking about the girl's mental wellbeing. Such a sweet young girl.

Takagi-san smiled ruefully, hints of worry in her eyes but also hope and resolve as well. She ruffled the girl's hair. "I'm fine, you little brat. I don't need you to start fussing over me anytime soon."

Despite how harsh her words may sound, they lacked any heat in them, something that Alice appeared to pick up on and smiled brightly, hugging Zeke ever more tightly. Said dog seemed to sense Takagi-san's mood too and barked in relief.

"Well then…" the pinkette began, letting out a sigh as she was quick to once again assume command of these meetings of theirs. "Let's get down to business. We've rested up enough, I think, and will need to keep on moving soon."

"Ah, but where to?" Shizuka asked from where she sat, munching away on some crackers, ignorant of the many crumbs that fell into her vast cleavage. "And wouldn't it be better to stay here just a little while longer?"

Takagi-san shook her head. "Despite the distance we've covered last night, we're still rather close to where… to where I lived. By now the zombies and that monster that had gathered there should have dispersed, but we can't count on them heading in the opposite direction we went in – they could very well be traveling in this general direction over the next day or so."

At that, Kyouko gulped rather loudly, an action that she then reflected on immediately in embarrassment. But the others didn't snicker at her action nor look bothered by it. If anything, the way they all seemed to unconsciously nod their heads revealed they likely felt the same as her.

"Not to mention with the power back on, we'll need to watch out for other things now…" muttered Miyamoto-san. She cupped her chin thoughtfully, though Kyouko also could've sworn she saw the girl's gaze flicker towards Komuro-kun a few times rapidly. "With all the chaos that's gone down since this whole mess started, there's likely a lot of busted up equipment and cars and more… if the power is fully back on, electrical fires are now a possible hazard."

Takagi-san nodded, folding her arms under her ample breasts. "Exactly. We may have just tended to any potential threats in this house, but the same obviously can't be said for any of the other surrounding houses. I'd rather not be resting here and then suddenly get blasted across the room if something explodes inside the house next door. That's why we can't really afford to stay here too long. Besides…"

Takagi-san trailed off, leaving Kyouko and the others hanging.

But the way she eyed Komuro-kun and Miyamoto-san kind of confirmed what Kyouko thought she was going to say.

"We ought to look for your families, yes?" she said softly towards the two in question.

Miyamoto-san nodded. Komuro-kun, on the other hand, simply sported a hardened expression, one that troubled her by his evidently mixed feelings.

"Komuro-kun?" Busujima-san called his name out in concern. "Something the matter?"

The teen shook his head after a brief moment. "Nah…. Just thinking we should head for Rei's place first, see if her parents are there. It's a bit closer than my home, though both are still in the same neighborhood anyways."

"Okay…" mumbled Hirano-kun, nodding in agreement with what Komuro-kun said. "Sounds reasonable, I guess. Especially since your parents are or were former cops, right, Miyamoto-san? They probably have some weapons and supplies we can use if need be."

Miyamoto-san nodded. "They do – batons, a few guns and a few other things here and there… not exactly an armory, but not something to sneeze at either. I'm sure my mom has some ammo that'll match your weapon too." She gestured to the weapon Hirano-kun had safely lying before him, partially dissembled as he'd apparently been checking each individual piece of the gun earlier. The boy nodded most appreciatively.

Okay, so it sounded like they had a basic plan in mind.

Still, what was this nervous energy she was picking up on here?

She didn't seem to be the only one noticing this either; her good friend Shizuka was also looking anxiously between Miyamoto-san, Komuro-kun and Takagi-san, who looked the most tense.

"U-U-Uhm… is something wrong with this idea though? The three of you look kind of scary…"

"…Our places aren't this way," Miyamoto-san answered reluctantly. "With all the zombies that had been swarming the mansion last night, we all ended up traveling north to here… my and Takashi's homes are more to the west and slightly south of Saya's place."

In other words, they'd all gone in the opposite direction.

The problem was now quite obvious.

"Oh…" Amazingly, it was Busujima-san who let out such a lame sounding noise, the young woman now gripping her sheathed sword tightly. "…How far, exactly?"

"From my place?" Takagi-san began. "Not that far – after all, we did use to play at each other's houses as kids. Couldn't have done that if the distance was that great. From here? Still not too bad, maybe three hours walk from here… if everything had been normal. With how many zombies are out there now? We may need to try circling around if we can't distract them all in some form or another."

"That won't be easy," Hirano-kun muttered as he continued to dismantle the gun and inspect each part. Kyouko watched him work as a way of distracting herself from her growing worry. "Even with the power back on for us to use electronics to distract the zombies, the same can't really be said for any of those monsters out there, I bet."

"But we did manage to brave our way quite far from the school," Busujima-san said. "Surely, we can manage since the distance between here and our intended destination isn't as great as the distance between the school and Takagi-san's home."

"Yeah, but with intervention from my mother and the others at the end of our first journey," Takagi-san countered. "If not for them, that 'tree' monster and those zombies would've killed us all. We can't expect to be so lucky next time around."

"But there has to be some way of minimizing the risks, right?" Shizuka pled, so full of desperate hope. She'd even dropped her crackers down the valley between her breasts despite her still great hunger, a sign of how worried the nurse was.

Kyouko now felt the need to add her own opinion here. Even though she was once again pretty clueless about how to best go about this, she still had to say _something_. She couldn't rely on these teens for everything.

"These zombies," she began. "They clearly possess some level of intelligence, but still aren't the smartest things around, yes? Surely, simply setting off car alarms or even any house alarms nearby with thrown debris could help at least confuse them, right?"

"That could work, but we can't expect it to work forever," Takagi-san said before adjusting her glasses. The pinkette paused for a minute to think, that sharp intelligence of hers no doubt coming up with ways to address this newest option. "It was slight, but at my home last night, I spotted some almost strategically cornering others, drawing the fire of some of the men to allow other zombies nearby try to flank them from the sides. Their intelligence is a bit greater than we'd originally thought and I'd really rather not test whatever learning ability they may have."

"But it could work still…" Komuro-kun suddenly said, his voice slightly making Kyouko jump after he'd been so silent. "I mean, it's not like we really have that many ways to do this. Might as well go with it."

"Komuro makes a good point, Takagi-san," Hirano-kun now chipped in. "Sure, we could and should maybe circle around, but doing that would mean traveling through the more densely populated neighborhoods out there. And like you pointed out, potential electrical fires could be abound, so taking a longer route could also lead to us possibly having to deal with more of those than we'd probably experience traveling in as direct a path as possible."

Takagi-san, the brain of the group that she is, stood stock still for a moment to take all this in, looking so much like a statue that it was almost scary.

Until…

Takagi-san sighed. "Fair point, porker," she admitted. "Still, there's all the monster we could end up dealing with… say, idiot. You were able to sense that monster last night, right?"

She directed her very casual questions towards Komuro-kun, who nodded slowly. "Only when it was in that fog form or whatever."

"How about the other monsters?"

There was a long pause as the teen thought. Kyouko and the others watched him think with almost bated breath.

This was the first she'd heard of this. Komuro-kun could sense that monster? If so and depending on the answer to this recent question, that certainly could be a boon.

But if that ends up being the case… just how come Komuro-kun could sense the monsters anyways? Was he a psychic? Not that she'd complain if that somehow was the case – whatever it took to survive this in one piece, she'd gladly welcome it.

"Not really." Komuro-kun shook his head. "I mean, when they were near, I did get this really bad feeling, but it wasn't as if I knew it was them until they made a move."

"But this 'really bad feeling' has only been present around the monsters, yes?" Busujima-san asked patiently.

Komuro-kun nodded.

"Well, even if this feeling these things give you only kicks in when they're close by, we'll take what we get," Takagi-san muttered. "Better some warning than no warning at all. Worst comes to worst, we're going to have to quite literally tiptoe our way there. Think if you focus hard enough, you can at least pinpoint the general direction they'll be coming from?"

Komuro-kun looked first to her, surprising Kyouko quite a bit with how piercing his normally exhausted gaze could be. He then looked to Shizuka right next to her, then to Alice and Zeke, then to Hirano-kun, to Busujima-san and then lastly to Miyamoto-san before focusing back on Takagi-san.

"Yeah, I can definitely do that much," he stated in a firm voice.

He didn't seem to actually give his response any real thought – he was simply stating something that he instinctively felt must – and will – be done.

Kyouko couldn't help but openly gape at him. Was this really the same teen she once heard of as being a slacker back in Fujimi? It boggled her mind. Once again, she was reminded that there was much more to him than what originally met the eyes.

Takagi-san's normally harsh and angry expression melted away before everyone's eyes and a soft smile appeared on her face. Even the stern and demanding look in her eyes was gone, replaced with emotions that Kyouko could only guess at.

"Figures you'd say something so straightforward, you dolt…" Her voice… it sounded so gentle and even happy too, so much so that everyone around her was left dumbstruck, even Komuro-kun himself.

Kyouko could then only watch as the girl seemed to realize the rest of them were there and she turned away from them all.

Oh dear, her ears were swiftly turning red as she pivoted away too.

"A-Anyways, seems like we have some plan at least. We should start making whatever preparations we need to make now, otherwise we'd really be burning daylight here."

Before any of them could say anything in response, Takagi-san walked off, leaving them all to sort of awkwardly sit there before finally getting up as well to obey her words.

All except for Kyouko, who dwelled on the girl's words to Komuro-kun just now as well as her actions at the end here.

Kyouko knew that back in Fujimi high school, she projected the image of a no-nonsense woman, the kind that was too focused on her career to spend much time thinking about romance or anything similar.

Those that had once had such a view of her would be proven quite wrong if they knew just how much she'd thought about romance as a teen herself. Sure, she may have never had a relationship before – she truly had been a busybody even back then – but that didn't mean she had never desired the emotional and, ah, physical, connection between a man and woman.

That also didn't mean she was dense either.

And the way Takagi-san had acted just now at the end…

"Oh my…" Despite herself, she couldn't help but feel very interested now in what sort of relationship the two of them had.

Especially since she could see the troubled expressions on both Miyamoto-san and Busujima-san when the pinkette had spoken like that.

Perhaps she was getting ahead of herself here, but it seemed like Komuro-kun was quite attractive to these three girls.

Three girls… and in the midst of an apocalypse at that too, where emotions obviously ran quite high…

Again, despite her better judgement, Kyouko's face started to turn red as she began to imagine a variety of 'what-if' scenarios here.

So steamy was her imagination in this moment that also against her will, she began to imagine _herself_ getting involved too.

…

…

…

"Uhm, Kyouko-chan?" She vaguely heard Shizuka call out to her through the thick cloud that was her thoughts right now. "You're looking very red in the face. Did you take a bite of something bad?"

Take a bite of something… oh, there certainly was something she'd like to bite into right about no-.

No! Stop it! Bad Kyouko!

Feeling most flushed now, it was all Kyouko could now do to get up and dash away from a confused Shizuka, all the while trying to rid herself of her more imaginative thoughts.

She failed quite miserably.

…but then, she wasn't quite trying that hard.

* * *

Saeko inwardly huffed as she once again ran through a mental checklist of things.

She'd tasked herself with preparing lunch sacks for them to have on their journey should such a thing become necessary.

Normally, doing such a thing would help calm her, but this time around, it didn't. Not even her usual mental exercises helped to rid her of the mild frustration she was feeling right now.

And it was all because of how Takagi-san had looked at and spoken to Komuro-kun just several minutes ago.

And she was just self-aware enough to have a good guess as to why.

"Never thought I'd ever end up like this…" she muttered as she finished preparing the lunch sacks – nothing extravagant, just some simple portable meals – and set them aside to be picked up and taken with them later.

She went up to the second floor immediately thereafter, passing by Alice and Zeke, both of whom were most determined to help as best as they could by carrying with them small piles of clothes that had been salvaged from the rooms to be taken. Well, Alice more so than Zeke, the small dog settling for vigorously dragging some skirts with his teeth alongside Alice.

It was a rather cute sight and one that made Saeko somewhat smile, but the still burning frustration made said smile not last long.

Her own emotions aside, she smelled something fierce, having not had any time to wash up and rid herself of the smell of sweat nor had she bothered to change out of the kimono from Takagi-san's place. This bothered her inner maiden a bit and she intended to right this figurative wrong.

However, because they were all on a time crunch here, washing up was out of the question, so the best she could do was simply change into something far more comfortable than her now haggard kimono.

As she entered a now empty room after grabbing some clothes, she began to change, slowly as her thoughts still irritated her.

To think she of all people would develop feelings… well, this in and of itself wasn't a surprise to her – a dedicated sword practitioner she may be, she was still a girl as well. She's had plenty of crushes throughout the years but contrary to the cool and confident appearance she apparently projected to everyone, she never bothered acting on such feelings out of insecurity and uncertainty, things that every human was subject to.

What did surprise her, however, was that the target of her current budding feelings was none other than Komuro-kun.

Despite having known each other for a very brief period of time and having only spoken even more briefly, it left her rather amazed at how strong of an interest she had in the young man. However, that was honestly to be expected, she supposed. After all, surviving more or less side by side through various crisis's can have that kind of amplified effect, more so when she once again considered how enigmatic the teen really was.

He was supposedly a slacker, a 'bad student' or even outright delinquent as people at school have initially labeled him, and to some extent she could see why that kind of reputation would develop for him – he was constantly exhausted and rather nonchalant about certain things, though she could now tell that these traits were the result of… something, which only added to the mystery around him. But despite these traits, he was also a very determined youth and decisive, given his mercy killing of his own friend Hisashi, not to mention the lengths he went to during that battle against the 'tree' monster to keep most of the zombies off the rest of them.

There was also what little she's seen of his battle prowess too, marking him as one far from formally trained yet fairly experienced nonetheless, an attractive trait in her eyes, but that could be her inner swordswoman talking there.

And then there was his apparent ability to sense those monsters too…

Saeko hummed thoughtfully now.

She wouldn't dare say yet what her feelings truly were regarding Komuro-kun, but she could at least say safely that she was indeed interested in learning more about him. What little she's learned about him thus far has only led to more questions forming in her mind and now that her thoughts were steering away from Takagi-san's reaction towards him, she found herself almost feeling eager to arrive at his and Miyamoto-san's homes.

Perhaps there, where he was raised, will she find answers to the questions she now had about him. And maybe, if at all possible, the two of them will have yet another chance to talk by themselv-.

"Err, Saeko?"

The girl nearly leapt out of her own skin, arms instinctively reaching to her waist for a weapon that currently wasn't there when an all too familiar voice called out to her.

Well, speak of the devil.

"Ah, Komuro-kun. You startled me." She did her best to not blush in embarrassment. She really must be tired still to have jumped the gun like that. Thankfully, she'd finished changing by the time he'd popped his head into the room.

That said, he was averting his eyes from her and a light blush could be seen on his face. "My bad. Anyways, just wanted to see where you were at. Everyone else is all set to go, so…"

Saeko nodded in understanding. "I see. My apologies, I hadn't realized I'd been lagging behind like that. I'll be downstairs in just a moment."

"Cool. And, uh, now that I say that…" He closed his eyes and scratched the side of his cheek. A second later, he opened them and looked at her reluctantly and awkwardly, faint blush still there. "…It's pretty chilly outside, so try to find a sweater too, if you can. Especially since…"

"…Since?"

"S-Sorry, just getting carried away. Anyways, we'll be waiting!" And with that he hastily rushed out of the room just as suddenly as he'd appeared.

Saeko could only stare after him in confusion until she finally turned and faced a full-length mirror that this bedroom had installed in it.

Due to the difference in physique between her and whoever had lived here, the jeans and grey tank top she chose to wear were quite… revealing.

The jeans alone clung to her long and sculpted legs almost like a second skin, the button at the waist undone to reveal the very top of the lacy black panties she'd also taken from this place to wear.

The tank top was also quite small on her, revealing the lower half of her toned and taut stomach while the top half of it clung tightly to her breasts… and thanks to the coolness of the room, her nipples were poking out quite noticeably, due to the bras she and the others girls have found being too small for any of them. Hell, whoever these clothes had belonged to had been very petite indeed – even most of her own breasts nearly spilled out the sides of the tank top.

Blushing up a storm upon now noticing her somewhat indecent state, Saeko immediately opted to do more than just find a sweater to wear – she was going to find at the very least a different top entirely to wear too!

It took her only another moment to do so, hastily changing into a long sleeve shirt that allowed her far more breathing than the tank top had, but her sense of modesty and shamed really kicked in and she also grabbed the first sweater she could find as well to further cover up.

Even when she finally headed downstairs to see the others waiting for her, she could scarcely bring herself to look Komuro-kun in the eyes and vice versa.

Well, if nothing else, she could comfort herself in knowing that he too had appeared interested in her just now, if the split second he'd glanced up and down her body was anything to go by.

Yes… a most comforting thought indeed.

* * *

 **As you can see, this was more of a filler chapter than anything else, meant to let the group recover a bit and rethink before heading back out into the cruel world.**

 **Also, the relationship aspect of this fic and the source material now come to the front a bit more. Considering just how quickly Saeko and Rei and Saya (to some mild extent) showed romantic (?)/sexual interest in Takashi in the manga itself, I honestly found the progress here to be rather slow in hindsight, but then this is honestly the first time I've tried juggling the interest of several major characters in another major character like this.**

 **Hope I can pull it off.**

 **Anyways, from here, they'll be gunning for Rei's and Takashi's places and I will say right now that that part will be the turning point of this fic. Can't say anything more about that, I'm afraid, but it's definitely something I'm looking forward to writing, for what it's worth, ha ha.**

 **Whelp, not much else to say other than that I hope you all are still doing well and will continue to be safe in life. And that I hope you're all looking forward to the same things I am, ha ha ha!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	13. Chapter 13

And once again, back in record time! But from here on out, that may change – call it an odd flash of intuition, but after I finished on the most recent chapter for my novel, I can't help but feel future chapters for it will be slightly longer and harder to write. Therefore, might be longer gaps between updates for this fic, like I initially thought would be the case. But as I've been saying, only time will tell.

To TheDarkHollow, hope life has been treating you well despite keeping you busy. Also, as always, glad you like the chapters!

And to all of you, the next few chapters is where the turning point for this fic is at. Probably a bit of a surprise, I know, but this is the truth. From here on out is when things start to really pick up. Just hope I can do what I have planned justice when I get to it.

Whelp, again, not much else to say really, so let's just get right onto it!

Chapter 13

Kohta took point for the group as they ventured forth into the world, the glasses wearing teen already feeling a bead of sweat forming on the side of his forehead as a result of his frayed nerves.

To be fair, the others weren't looking much better either, with a lot of them looking ready to just about jump out of their own skin if anything even remotely surprising occurs.

It's been nearly an hour since leaving that home and so far, they've made some considerable progress in their trek to their new destination.

The group formation was something akin to a triangle right now, Kohta at the forefront with Komuro directly behind him to the left and Busujima to his right. Trailing behind them were Takagi-san, Alice-chan, Hayashi-sensei and Shizuka – the non-combatants – huddled together with Zeke bravely trotting alongside them, looking ready to bite fingers off if it meant protecting them. Miyamoto brought up the rear, a makeshift spear in hand as she watched their six.

Despite being at the very front of the group, Kohta's role was to simply call out any nearby threats – the zombies – and support both Komuro and Busujima when they rush forward to deal with it, so it wouldn't be wrong to say those two were the true vanguards here as always.

So far, there's been no need to try this out, for the zombies had left them alone for the most part. True to what they'd briefly discussed during their little meeting back at the house, with the mysterious power outage now over and done with – hopefully permanently done with, as far as Kohta wanted – power had returned to everything, meaning there were car alarms going off everywhere in addition to whatever other noises electronics made.

This served as a pretty decent cover for them all, for even though the noises didn't exactly grab the zombies' attention, it still covered up their light footsteps.

Still…

"Why are there so many more?" Busujima muttered from beside him. She sounded both frustrated and worried and Kohta couldn't blame here.

There really were a lot more here now, with entire streets all but being covered with stumbling and even crawling zombies, moaning in what seemed like annoyance at all the other noise around them.

Kohta had no idea if maybe all the zombies from the city were now stalking through the residential areas or if there'd been way more zombies here from the start that were only now becoming active, but in either case, he could tell that it'd only be a matter of time before things went horribly fucking wrong.

Well, if nothing else, no monsters so far, not even a distant howl or anything. Sure, this was also rather worrying in its own right, but better to have the monsters be well away from them than anywhere even remotely nearby, especially when considering how many bullets it takes just to do damage to them.

"At the next intersection, go left," called out Takagi-san softly, in order to avoid getting any unwanted attention.

Everyone all made small sounds of acknowledgement at her command and Kohta found himself smiling slightly. Seems like Takagi-san was now more or less back to normal. That's good. He knew having Komuro talk to the girl would help her out.

Following the pinkette's instruction, he turned left at the next intersection, and then marched down and made a right down a small side street that Takagi-san then pointed out.

Her great intelligence meant she pretty much had a mental map of the whole area and now it was really being put to use in trying to provide the most direct route possible to Miyamoto's home and by extension, Komuro's home too.

Still, it wasn't too easy going. Some detours had to be made here and there so far thanks to small fires or piles of bloodied and decomposing bodies or other obstructions and Kohta knew they'd only be encountering many more before arriving at their destination.

They all kept on walking, slowly yet urgently and alert, one measly inch at a time.

Until…

"Wait!" muttered a now worried Komuro as he stepped past Kohta and held out an arm, as if meaning to physically hold back the entire group.

An unneeded action, for they all pretty much froze in place.

Kohta's trigger finger, which had been resting on the side of the gun he held to avoid accidentally pulling the trigger, slowly started to move towards said trigger, ready to shoot if need be.

"What is it?" Takagi-san asked from the center of the group.

"Just… Just let me try something, alright?" Komuro responded. "Trust me."

They'd been going down yet another small side street, one that led behind a bunch of houses. It was a rather tight space that forced their formation to bunch up some more. Kohta didn't like this spot and now having to wait and see whatever Komuro was about to do was only ramping up his worry.

"Hurry up, alright?" he said to the sole other male of the group.

Komuro nodded and moved forward a bit more.

As soon as he did so, a nearby trash barrel that one of the homeowners here had stashed out back suddenly moved.

Kohta nearly jumped. Something was in there and it wasn't quite as small as a rat or something, from how it shook.

Komuro approached the barrel slowly and grabbed the lid's handle. And then paused. All became silent save for the numerous car alarms that were still going off like mad on the next main street.

Some zombies could be spotted at the end of the side street, where they had to go and Kohta was really feeling worried now by how Komuro seemed to freeze up. He could tell the others were getting anxious without even having to look at them too.

Thankfully, the zombies couldn't hear them from so far away and once the large group passed by a moment later, Komuro threw open the lid… while also toppling the trash barrel over too.

It went crashing to the ground with a loud thud that made Kohta's heart nearly burst out of his chest.

Especially when Komuro swiftly backed away from the downed barrel and something leapt out of it.

It was certainly no animal that he was looking at, but something vaguely similar.

Whatever it was, it was definitely a monster, but possibly the smallest one thus far. Its body was similar in shape to Komodo dragon, but seemingly possessed what looked like extremely dark colored fur. It had a long tail as well, thick and muscular and it whipped around in the air threateningly, nearly making some of the girls behind Kohta scream.

The monster's head was also similar to that of a Komodo dragon, but drastically malformed, as if acid had been thrown in its face, with the very flesh on its face looking burned and practically falling off its face… and the flesh was still bleeding, as if the damage done to it was recent – assuming that wasn't simply how it looked.

The monster possessed multiple eyes too, almost like a spider and each eye was locked onto each member of the group, the shocking white sclera looking extremely bloodshot as soon as its gaze(s?) locked onto them and the nearly invisible pupils narrowed into slits.

For a solid ten seconds, there seemed to be a stand off between this thing and the group. Despite being smaller than any of the other monsters seen thus far, it was still pretty large, easily larger than some of the largest dogs Kohta has seen in his life, and so it ended up coming across as intimidating.

It didn't help when the thing opened its mouth, revealing rows and rows of rotten and jagged teeth, a slick and oozing tongue whipping around within.

Every muscle in its body tensed up with surprising power and Kohta readied himself for a desperate fight as did the others-.

Only for the thing to then scream in what appeared to be terror before darting over the nearest wall and well away from them all. Many zombies groaned in response to the shrill sound and even roared and gave chase… but after that monster and not the group, who all remained stunned at what had just happened.

"What in the world just happened?" Kohta heard Miyamoto ask from the back of the group.

"Looks like it was more scared of us than we were of it," mumbled Hayashi-sensei.

Yeah, Kohta had gotten that impression too just now.

"Well, I'm not going to complain about that…" muttered Miyamoto with a slight huff. "Shit, that gave me a heart attack."

"S-Same…" Shizuka chipped in, putting a hand to her large breasts, pressing against them with such force that they nearly popped out the sides of the tight shirt she wore.

Kohta looked away quickly with a blush at the sight. Jesus, how could the nurse manage to do things like that in the middle of situations like this? It boggled the mind.

"We should move before it decides to change its mind, though," Busujima then said.

That got affirmatives from the others and they were all quick to start marching forward again, heading for the main street that was now devoid of most of the zombies that had been there before. When that thing had ran off screaming, it had attracted most of the undead for some reason too.

However, Komuro scarcely budged and Kohta took it upon him to pat him on the back before the rest of the group got too far ahead.

"Hey, Komuro, you alright?"

Kohta couldn't help but be very concerned now – Komuro looked shocked. Like, really shocked. Given all the other weird things that seem to going on with this guy (man, that was saying something, Kohta realized), he was immediately certain that this too had something more to it.

"I…I'm okay," Komuro said after a few seconds. "Just got a bit spooked by that thing, is all."

A lie. Kohta could tell right away that what his response was. But as tempted as he felt to call him out on it right now, he decided to merely roll with this. Trying to pry the truth out of his fellow male would be pretty damn impractical considering where they were currently at.

So as reluctantly as could be, Kohta merely nodded in agreement with the lie. "Alright. Come on, there's still plenty of ground to cover."

"Right…"

Kohta turned and lightly jogged to catch up with the rest of the group, who waited patiently for them near the main street. From behind, he could hear Komuro follow after him.

Kohta silently grimaced, making a note to question Komuro as thoroughly as possible once they made it safely to Miyamoto's place.

He wasn't sure what the others thought of Komuro – no, he could actually take a good guess or two based on how the girls eyed the teen recently – but he for one was getting tired of all this mystery that seemed to be swirling around him.

One way or another, he was going to get answers.

* * *

Takashi wasted no time slipping back into the role of vanguard as they all made it to the next street, wielding the thick pipe he'd taken from that house as though it were a bat.

But as alert as he appeared to be to the others, his thoughts were currently elsewhere.

More specifically, his thoughts were on that creature he'd sensed within that barrel just several minutes ago.

All this time, the few monsters they've encountered up until have triggered some odd feeling within him that he could never put a proper name to, if only because survival had been the more pressing issue each time, but now that he'd had a chance to think without having to worry about that monster attacking, he'd finally figured out what that feeling was -.

Recognition. Familiarity. And dare he even say it, nostalgia to some extent.

Yes, he _knew_ that monster. He _knew_ all the others one so far too, even the ones he'd only glimpsed from afar like that flying one that had been shooting down into the city while he'd been at the school.

But why? Why did he know them without actually knowing them? How come they all felt so familiar when this was the first time he was seeing them at all?

And yet… the very fact that he'd even felt confident enough in the first place to grab that monster's attention from whatever it'd been doing in that trash barrel seemed to slap in the face of this current thought.

Was this really the first time he'd seen these monsters at all?

These thoughts now ate away at him and as they did so, his worry grew even as he kept up his calm yet alert façade to the rest of the group.

His grip on his weapon tightened significantly, enough to start slowly crushing the metal handle a bit. He paid this no mind, being so caught up in his own worries, however, though Saeko did glance his way upon hearing the slight crushing noises, something that he was only vaguely aware of for whatever reason, her stare that is.

His confusion eventually gave way to frustration and even anger as they all continued their trek.

What kind of connection did he potentially have with these things?

Just what in the hell was wrong with him?

* * *

Elsewhere, specifically within the western portion of Europe, numerous monsters began to gather. They came in all shapes and sizes, each one as unique as could be. However, they all shared the very same traits of being utterly horrific to look at, many of them looking like things right out of a nightmare. Even the ones that seemed less than grotesque still carried themselves with a bestial sense of awe about them, inducing anyone that would ever look upon them with a level of a panic that would make even the most manic of people normally look calm in comparison.

However, their numbers, though significant, were nowhere near as great as any surviving humans may be.

In fact, if one were able to count every single monster loose in the world right now, including any that have been slain in some form or another, the final number would only be measured around 50 at most, with most of the monsters comprising this number being relatively weak – beatable by humans, albeit barely so at that.

As for the rest of the monsters? Much stronger, it went without saying.

And now it was these stronger monsters that were gathering, being the only ones out of the entirety of them all to possess the capabilities to be here and now.

For the one who brought them forth had just taken form for the third time thus far-.

The Demon.

Its body remained the same as it did before, yet somehow its presence felt diminished. This was intentional on the Demon's part, for it was trying to do its best in making this body capable of existing in this level of existence without breaking it all. So far, things seemed to be going well for it on this front.

Even so, its strength was still unbelievably vast, incalculable by human standards. Even with this current physical body serving as a restrictive avatar for it, it still possessed enough power to erase the entire universe, space-time continuum and all with absolute ease, less effort than it takes for a human to breath.

Speaking of which…

Unmindful of the monsters that practically flocked to its current location, the Demon stared at its target.

Having manifested several minutes ago – again, not that it was all that really aware of time here – the Demon had trekked forward at an easy pace towards a smashed-up building that had an underground bunker beneath what ruins remained of the initial structure.

It was in this bunker that a number of humans had been holing themselves up in, more than two dozen easily. They all looked worn down and scraggly but very much in good health, all things considered.

But these humans were beings it paid very little mind to. Instead, it focused its attentions upon one in particular.

Just like its previous targets, this human was a woman. Older than the other ones its tracked down by a few decades, yet still possessing a youthful beauty despite being in her 50s going on 60s, looking more like a woman in her 30s at the most.

The Demon knew why this was so but made no attempt at all to comment upon this.

All that mattered to it was that once again, its trek had ended in failure.

This was something that the woman appeared to be aware of, her otherwise frightened expression from when it had first eradicated the ceiling of this bunker to get in now taking on a somewhat brave look.

"That's right… I'm not what you expected, yes?" the woman mumbled out, starting out quiet, but getting louder with each word.

The Demon merely stood there, completely passive. However, the rest of the humans there were all huddled together, clearly terrified with so many monsters around them, all of whom didn't move out of reverence for the Demon, wishing to see what it'd do next.

The woman paid the monsters no mind and shook her head rapidly, smiling grimly. "That you're even here at all tells me everything I need to know. And to that, all I can say is that I pray you never succeed in your goal!"

The Demon tilted its head slightly to the side, now feeling perplexed.

Did this human know of its goal? Such a thing certainly wasn't something it was trying to keep under wraps, but it wasn't as if it'd been advertising it either.

In any case…

The woman was now exhibiting something that then caused all the other humans to look on and gasp, momentarily forgetting about the monsters.

The woman lashed out at the Demon, swiping at the air in front of her only for an explosion to suddenly manifest out of nowhere directly in front of the Demon's face.

The explosion was small, just barely big enough to engulf the Demon's head yet it possessed enough power to wipe out half a city.

Naturally, this was nowhere near enough to even scratch the Demon at all. It wasn't even worthy of its notice save for one thing:

Its targets could indeed some supremely microscopic inkling of that inherited power. Interesting. A pity that the woman's action just now had clearly cost her all the strength she had, for she'd broken out in a sweat all over, soaking her dirtied garments and making her slump to the floor.

Her expression was of resignation, but there was defiance there too. So much so that the Demon almost expected the woman to speak, except she was too exhausted now from her single attack to do much of anything else, much less offer up some final words of resentment.

So it was without further ado that the Demon finally responded.

With nary a glance or even a thought, it erased the woman from existence entirely, her form dissipating away into complete nothingness. Even the very memory of her was wiped from history to some extent, resulting in what would undoubtedly be some rather fragmented memories for some of those that knew her.

But obviously this mattered little to the Demon. What did matter is that it had failed yet again.

And to think it had gotten a lead on the one it sought. For not very long after it had revoked its protections from its previous two targets – the mother and daughter – it had detected the one it was after through the connection they both had.

Alas, said connection was extremely shaky due to the infinitely vast gap in their levels of existence. Searching for its target was very much like a human trying to find a gem amongst a pile of rocks albeit to a far, far greater scale.

As a result, it had ended up here and had done away with this woman just now.

No matter. During that brief time its target's connection with it had been active, it'd been to get a general feel for what direction to go in.

So, it shall go forth, across this Europe, across this Asia if need be. It'll go as far as it needs to go, until it finds the one it sought.

Shouldn't take too much longer, now that it thought about it. So long as it continued to move east, it'll eventually be able to detect its target much better once it got a bit closer.

Its business concluded and with its next travel planned out to some extent, the body the Demon had made for itself in this world now began to break apart just like before, again unmindful of the humans and monsters around.

As soon as its form nearly dissipated completely, the monsters finally seemed to turn their attention in full to the remaining humans in the bunker, who had no place to run due to being completely boxed in.

The last thing the Demon heard before fully vanishing was the sound of its unintended creations swiftly moving upon the humans.

Their screams of terror, over as quickly as they were loud… they weren't exactly bad sounds to listen to.

* * *

Shizuka huffed and puffed as she hurried along with the rest of the group.

It's been a few hours since that encounter with that skittish monster, a weird encounter even by the standards she'd now formed for this apocalyptic world.

By now the sun was at its peak in the sky and although the weather was overall cool, the rays from the sun combined with their hours of exertion was enough to have the busty nurse sweating considerably.

She longed for a bath, finding the smell of her own sweat quite embarrassing, but she made absolutely no complaints. Survival first, bath later.

Still… she was already felling rather tired. She wasn't built for long periods of physical exertion, even without factoring in the weight of her hefty puppies, her affectionate term for her own breasts.

"How close are we now?" She couldn't help but ask as they finally stopped for a quick break, some bottles of water and small snacks swiftly being passed around for them all to have.

"Honestly, fairly close," Saya-chan said. "We've been pretty lucky all things considered so far. If things don't change too much for us, then we could probably be there to Rei's place in another two hours, maybe two and a half."

Shizuka nearly cheered at that. Alice, however, did cheer but mercifully in a quiet fashion. Such a sight from the young girl, who'd been looking very nervous ever since that monster encounter, was rather uplifting and made Shizuka hug the girl without warning.

"S-Shizuka nee-chan~ Can't breath~" the girl quickly said as her face was buried into her cleavage.

"Ah, sorry, sorry~" Shizuka mumbled out, not quite feeling sorry at all. If anything, she nearly laughed at the pout on Alice's face once she was free. And when Zeke quietly barked at her in playful consternation, Shizuka really had to make an effort to keep quiet.

The others didn't seem to mind this sight, she noted as she calmed down, instead looking pretty amused, even Saya-chan.

Well, not quite everyone.

Komuro-kun appeared to be lost in thought. Or rather, he was _still_ lost in thought.

The boy hid it pretty well, but she was able to catch on that something was up with him. And Shizuka couldn't help but worry for him. The boy had quickly grown on her thanks to his help in addition to everyone else's in keeping them all alive up to this point, plus there was certainly that enigmatic side to him that her inner romantic was starting to find more than a little alluring with every little thing she learned about him.

But that aside, it was interesting but also worrying to note how he'd reacted earlier during their meeting back at the house. When they'd first brought up traveling to his and Rei-chan's homes, he'd looked very uncomfortable, as if that was something he didn't really want to do – heading to his home, that is.

Sure, Rei-chan's place was a bit closer than his, but even so, Shizuka was certain that anyone else in his position would've been more than eager to return home and check on the family in this mess. That he would instead suggest heading to Rei-chan's place first with such an underlying note of discomfort said something.

Of course, no family was ever truly perfect, but was whatever relationship he had with his parents so bad that even in the midst of the apocalypse he'd rather not head back? Considering how he's been acting so far, Shizuka never would've expected this irrational side out of an otherwise relatively calm and focused young man.

So again, this was a worrisome state of affairs here, especially since that monster encounter had also rattled him in some way.

"What to do…?" she muttered.

"Shizuka-san?" Kyouko-chan suddenly spoke. "Did you say something?"

"A-Ah, no, not at all!" Shizuka was quick to wave her off. "Was just thinking of some random things aloud to myself."

Kyouko-chan quirked an eyebrow, but like her was too tired to do much of anything beyond simply sitting down in this abandoned neighborhood park to rest up.

Once Kyouko-chan turned her attention away from her and she made sure the others hadn't directed their attention to her either, Shizuka quietly slumped onto the park bench, water bottle in hand.

Taking a slow but long sip from it, she pondered over what to do.

She was well aware of her own limitations here – she was no fighter like Komuro-kun or Saeko-chan or Rei-chan and she couldn't handle a gun for the life of her unlike Hirano-kun. Nor could she improvise on the spot with something like Saya-chan. Indeed, she, Kyouko-chan and Alice-chan and Zeke were pretty much dead weights as far contributions to the group went during fights.

So instead, all she could do was simply provide whatever medical support possible. That and also emotional support if need be. After all, being a nurse that had been studying to be a doctor, she was well-versed in not just medicine but also psychology to some degree. It was why she was just observant enough to notice Komuro-kun's uncertainties earlier.

With first-aid not being required right now, that meant all she could do as of now was do her best to help the others her as best as she could whenever they were struggling emotionally… and right now, it seemed to her like Komuro-kun may be the one most in need of this service.

But how was she to do so? No way he'd open up that easily to her about his troubles, especially not when they're still in hostile territory.

She supposed she could wait until they actually reached their destination to sit him down and have a heartfelt talk, but if even the mere thought of heading home earlier made him look so reluctant, simply being there could make him very moody which would certainly be hard to deal with.

Even so…

She bite her lip slightly after finishing her water and glanced at Komuro-kun as subtly as possible, who she noted was sitting just a bit further away from them all than would be considered the new normal. She could also see Saya-chan along with Rei-chan looking towards him as well, their expressions one of intrigue and concern though they said nothing. Even Saeko-chan glanced his way every now and then, her normally stoic expression looking a bit uncertain and flustered.

Heck, even Hirano-kun was eyeing Komuro-kun inquisitively!

Slowly, Shizuka let out a low hum.

Yes, confronting him about whatever was the matter would be best to do at their destination. That way if need be, she could call upon the others here to help sit him down and talk. Surely, their concern for the boy would get him to open up if she alone is unable to have him speak about what was wrong. Perhaps seeing them all looking so worried for him would make things a bit easier for them all.

Some moaning occurred nearby. This in and of itself wasn't anything new by this point, but the moans sounded far too close to have come from outside the park.

As such, Shizuka was quite shaken from her thoughts as were the others and they all turned to see what was going on.

She already had a bad sinking feeling even before turning around – the moans… they'd sounded too light, too high pitched.

Sure enough, the sight now before them made her nearly gasp, her stomach churning in a way she never would've thought possible.

From out of a nearby structure on the park's grounds came forth a small group of the undead… in the form of children.

Said undead children looked to be young, ranging from preschool age to maybe a few years older than that. And they too had not been spared from the horrors of being a zombie, their skin – what was left of it – looking so very pale, their eyes a milky white while numerous large bite marks could be seen all over their young bodies, leaking coagulated blood every now and then.

Decomposition had slowly kicked for just about every zombie they've come across despite it not being that long since this apocalypse occurred during such a chilly season and these zombies were not different, their remaining skin already decaying and a limb or two looking ready to just fall off from a combination of the massive amounts of flesh that had been torn right off of them in the not so distant past and decay.

The group of zombie children, numbering maybe a dozen strong, stumbled about, clearly not walking anywhere in particular. Despite not being able to see, they moved their heads around a bit as if looking for something.

Shizuka nearly retched when one child appeared to look their way, revealing how part of their upper skull was missing entirely, exposing a somewhat damaged brain and left eye dangling out of the socket in the process.

"…Let's go," spoke Komuro-kun as he could be heard approaching them. "I think we've rested enough."

Not a single person argued with that logic and Shizuka certainly had no problem cutting their break short. Anything, to not have to see such a despairing sight. Even if it made sense for there to be 'young' zombies like that, having this buried suspicion of hers confirmed like this was one of the absolute last things she'd wanted nowadays.

Even so, her eyes refused to break away from the sight before her and it wasn't until she felt a large and strong hand gripping her shoulder gently that she turned to see who it was.

It was Komuro-kun.

"Shizuka…" he began, only to pause for a brief second. His expression was a serious one, borderline stoic, but she could still see traces of disgust in his face at the sight. As horrible as the sight was for them all, here he was trying to be strong for them all, for her. "Come on. We have some more walking to do. Hope you're ready for that."

His last sentence came out rather light-hearted, clearly a way of trying to take her mind off the sight before them all. Although his tone had faltered a bit at the end there, it was nonetheless something she appreciated.

In fact, she appreciated it enough to let out a quiet giggle. Geez, to think just a moment ago she'd been thinking of how to help him yet here he was helping out here in a small way.

"Okay," she said to him as she finally turned around and in turn turning her back on that horrible sight.

However…

Just as they all finished packing up and started to move again, something howled.

By now, it was a familiar sound to them. After all, how could they possibly forget the first monster that tried to kill them?

The 'dog' was close by. And it seemed like it was getting closer by the second.

"Go, go!" Komuro-kun hissed.

Shizuka sure had no trouble obeying that particular command instantly, nor did the others.

They all picked up their stuff and quickly followed his lead as he dashed into the streets and then around the corner.

There was a house just around said corner, and the gate was semi-open. Hirano-kun took point now and went first, checking the immediate vicinity, which is to say the front area of the property, for any hiding zombies before giving an 'all clear' sign.

They all piled in and immediately smashed themselves against the wall, crouching low too.

It went without saying that they all fell silent and they waited and listened for whatever would come next.

And sure enough, the 'dog' howled once more as they heard it slowly approach, eventually rounding the same corner they'd gone past.

It was right outside the property they'd hastily hidden themselves on and Shizuka was tensing up so much at how close it was that she'd undoubtedly be experiencing muscle cramps later on. But that was a small price to pay if it meant surviving.

They'd made sure to close the gate to the property when they entered but didn't bother locking it – not like it'd slow the monster down if it knew where they were at.

In any case, the 'dog' was now heading down the same street they'd ran down, slowly moving past the gate, giving them a good long look at it.

Numerous bullet wounds coated its entire body along with several wounds that must have come from a grenade or two. Some of the teeth that made up its 'head' were noticeably missing and its long and creepy tongue wasn't untouched either, looking a bit shorter too, like it had been cut.

Given the ferocity of this monster, it could now be said it was more than likely that Saya-chan's parents and the others at her home truly were dead now, something that obviously left Shizuka feeling sad and worried for the girl. Nonetheless, the Takagis and their men clearly put up one hell of a fight.

Still, that the 'dog' was even alive after all that… if nothing, Shizuka had to give it credit for its resiliency.

It moved slowly, clearly hurting from last night still, so much so that it probably wouldn't take that much more to finally do it in, but that wasn't something Shizuka felt the group should try doing right now. In any case, it was hurt and more importantly, it didn't seem to have noticed them, its tongue lashing out and licking at the air in some attempt to pick up a trail of some kind presumably.

It paused for a moment in front of the gate, a moment that felt like an eternity. When it turned ever so slightly towards the gate, Shizuka could've sworn her heart felt ready to explode from how hard it was now beating.

Thankfully, the monster then turned away and continued down the street, hissing and growling as it did so.

It wasn't until it sounded like the 'dog' was at the very end of the street that they finally even risked moving.

Komuro-kun once again took the lead, getting up first and opening the gate, peeking out in the direction the monster had gone in.

"Shit," he muttered. "It turned left."

"Great…" mumbled Rei-chan, who gripped her weapon nervously.

"Let me guess," began Kyouko-chan anxiously. "That's the direction we had to go in?"

Her question went unanswered orally, which was plenty of an answer anyways. Shizuka could practically hear Kyouko-chan mentally swearing at their misfortune.

"Well, there's still a while to go before we get to our destination," Saya-chan began quietly. "There's a chance it'll change direction well before we get close to there."

"Not really liking the odds of that though," chipped in Hirano-kun, whose smile was both sheepish and nervous. "After all, Takagi-san, our luck hasn't exactly been the best so far."

Saya-chan's sneer was one of resignation. "Don't remind me…" She trailed off before sighing a second later. "Well, no use complaining. Come on. We need to keep moving."

All of them got up and slowly went back onto the streets, checking for any nearby zombies before moving on. There were quite a lot, but the numbers of the undead were less than that of before, a small mercy that Shizuka would gladly accept especially since they hadn't noticed their presence.

And sure enough, it wasn't long until Shizuka was back to quietly huffing and puffing as they began their trek in earnest again.

She prayed there wouldn't be many more surprises on their journey.

* * *

The wickerman-like monster listened for the group's movements whilst in its fog form. Because it could only find solace in pitch dark rooms, peaking out the blinds to actually look at them was impossible, but it's committed to memory the group's very presence, the very sounds of their footsteps and other movements, lively in comparison to the undead.

It hummed as it thought, assessing the situation.

Despite it having not even been a full 24 hours since the battle last night, its wounds have already recovered quite nicely, but it would still be another night or two before it was fully healed and ready to fight at full strength again.

Even so, despite its still recovering state, it made sure to follow the group as best as it could, taking more and more of an interest in that teenaged boy.

And it was on that note that the monster really took a moment to think.

Not so long ago, it had felt the presence of the Demon, impossibly great in scope yet originating from very far away, most likely on an entirely different continent. Nonetheless, upon having sensed its creator, the monster had felt drawn to it and nearly unconsciously tried to go towards it, only to stop itself.

Ignoring the fact that reaching the Demon before it lost its form in this world would be impossible for it, its interest in this group was far too strong to back off at this point.

Especially since, upon having felt the Demon's presence, something very odd had occurred at the same time.

Every time it had thought about that boy since then… an odd sense of familiarity had bloomed within it yet it was unable to determine why this now was the case.

Yet another thing of interest to chalk up about that teen, at any rate. That said, it highly doubted the boy would know the answers to the questions it now had on its mind.

Oh well, a shame but not enough of one to spare the boy the next it hunts them.

It could now hear the group getting further and further away from here, so much so that it could just scarcely determine what exact path they were taking.

Right, time to move.

However, just as it began to disperse and reappear in another darkly lit home, the monster paused.

It detected a powerful energy building up rapidly. Although it could detect said build up from miles and miles away, it still disturbed the monster considerably.

For it knew where exactly the energy was coming from – yet another of its brethren.

And it knew exactly which one.

Feeling a certain sense of panic now, the monster tried reaching out to the other one, hoping to make its haphazard aim perhaps fall just a bit short of the intended spread.

But alas – it was too late.

* * *

The monster that hovered above the city was more almost more akin to an alien in design than any 'conventional' monster.

Its body was seemingly composed of crimson red flames whilst possessing multiple eyes upon its mouthless 'face' that were made out of pure darkness. Horns jutted out the upper sides of its head, burning with such intense energy that the resulting destruction made the sky look like it was being cut open.

This monster was the very same one Takashi, Rei, and Hisashi had once glimpsed back at the school, not that the former two knew of its presence right now. Nor was this monster aware of being observed, both back then and now.

Even it did know, the fact wouldn't change what it was about to do all that much.

Having sensed the Demon not too long ago and having easily traversed the distance to its location, the flame monster now found itself filled with a sort of renewed purpose.

Yes, leaving things partly undone wouldn't do. If it truly wished to wreak havoc, then it out to be just a bit more thorough. This was why it had returned back here, to this city it had fired upon a bit some odd days ago.

It was high time it did things properly.

And so as it levitated high in the sky, its very size dwarfing even most of the larger buildings below, a massive amount of energy welled up within its form.

After a moment of concentration, the energy it had gathered finally reached critical mass – and it was promptly let loose.

From all over its flame-like body, beams fired outwards.

A good majority of them fired more or less downwards upon the city, each beam packing power that had to be measured in the low hundreds of tons, eradicating city blocks in droves, incinerating any and all survivors that may have been there along with those pitiful undead that were created whenever a body was left just intact enough from either it or its brethren.

But while most of the beams fired into the city, more than a dozen more fired farther and farther out.

These beams struck industrial areas, triggering even bigger explosions when the unnatural energy struck certain pieces of machinery or chemicals. These beams struck smaller business areas and shopping districts. It struck schools and apartment complexes, including by pure chance whatever remained of Fujimi high school.

The beams struck further out, blasting craters into the residential areas that lied further away from the city, undoubtedly slaying those that had been surviving this apocalypse up until now. No undead would be forming from these unlucky survivors anymore, of that the monster was certain of.

And if by chance some people did survive, well, it supposed they wouldn't be alive that much longer. They'll likely die of injuries undoubtedly sustained by its attack just now. Even if they don't, the cries of agony they'll unleash eventually shall draw the undead like moths to a flame.

Yes, it could now be said that this entire city and its surrounding areas were now or shall soon be completely devoid of life, just like it had intended.

Satisfied, the flame monster rose higher into the sky, eventually above the clouds and flying off to ravage other areas.

It was thinking of the countryside. Yes, there'd be plenty of things that would burn quite nicely there.

As it flew off, it remained almost blissfully unaware… that there were those that would indeed survive through this new nightmarish landscape.

* * *

 **Obviously, the group is the bunch of survivors being referred to at the end there. But there's going to be a few surprises there as well.**

 **Also, remember the three categories of monsters I mentioned? The flame monster here belongs to the second category – powerful and with certain abilities, but still possible to bring down if fired upon with enough heavy artillery. Of course, given the current state of the world, heavy artillery isn't exactly bountiful right now….**

 **And on another note that I'm happy to share without spoiling too much, the Demon will now start becoming a bit more active and central to the story! This is something I've honestly been looking forward to ever since I even came up with this fic, ha ha. The Demon has a far more important role than you may be thinking of and it'll be my great pleasure to write out how exactly it fits into all this.**

 **Now on yet another note, glad you guys liked the last chapter with Takashi scoring points with the girls, ha ha. Believe it or not – and I can say this without actually spoiling – but this will be a harem fic. Yeah, shocking, I know, given previous fics of mine involve only a single pairing for certain characters or none at all depending on the circumstances.**

 **I'm sure saying that might have you thinking 'isn't that spoiling things a bit though?' anyways and you can't be blamed for that. Certainly, for those of you interested in who Takashi ends up with, yeah, this would be spoiling. However, and again believe it or not, the very fact he gets a harem in this fic is plot relevant! Also, well, even if you can easily guess who makes up the harem, I'm still not going to actually say who comprises the harem. An extremely minor secret that I'm sure all of you can effortlessly figure out, heh.**

 **Whelp, beyond all this, not much else to say other than that next chapter is when this fic will really start taking a turn. It's my hope you'll enjoy the plot twists that will be soon accompanying said turn.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	14. Chapter 14

Surprise, guys! Bet you weren't expecting this chapter so soon after the last one, ha ha. But in all honesty, I was just so excited and eager to write this chapter that I actually ended up forgetting what exactly I wanted to write for my next chapter in my novel. So, thanks to this unintended self-inflicted writer's block, I decided to hold off on the chapter for my novel until after doing the chapter for this fic. So yeah, that's why this is out just a bit sooner than expected for us all.

Again, with this chapter done, I'll be back to working on my novel, so the next chapter for this fic will come out within the usual timeframe set for myself.

But yeesh, to think I'd completely blank out like that on my own novel… talk about crazy.

Heh, that said, not much else new to say. So let's just get onto the chapter!

P.S. TheDarkHollow, may sound strange, but glad to hear. Better a neutral life than a bad one. Hope things become positive for you though.

Chapter 14

All around her, the world seemed to combust and burn. Shizuka couldn't help but be struck by a certain sense of awe and horror by the sight all around her, the entire area seemingly nothing more than fire and smoke now.

Truly, it wouldn't be wrong to say that the world finally looked like hell on earth to match the insanity of the past several days.

But she put aside her emotions and instead tried to focus on getting up. She didn't know what had happened, but she did know that she and the others had been sent flying hard from the sheer force of the multiple explosions.

Despite how much pain she realized she was finally in, she shakily stood up and wiggled each part of her body, making sure everything was still relatively intact.

Relief filled her upon noting all her limbs still intact, but the feeling passed as swiftly as it had arrived. For all she knew she may have suffered internal injuries, but had no way of knowing right now.

Besides…

"Anyone?!" she cried out hoarsely, the smoke from the surrounding flames nearly suffocating her. Even with the wind blowing away the smoke, there was simply far too much of it to speak normally.

Even so, she persisted in walking forth.

She couldn't see the others at all.

Fear welled up within her and she called out again, not caring how loud she had to be in order to be heard. "Kyouko-chan! Saya-chan! Saeko-chan! Anyone! Can you hear me?!"

She called out a few other names as she shakily walked forward. She spotted a busted fire hydrant as she took several steps south. Ripping off a piece of her own shirt, she soaked it in the water spurting out of the hydrant and put to her face to help combat the smoke.

"Alice-chan! Zeke! Rei-chan!" she called out, fear and adrenaline now really kicking into high gear, allowing her to better deal with the pain she was feeling.

Because of this second wind, however, she was experiencing something of a panic attack and she had to divide her efforts between looking and calming herself down to keep from hyperventilating.

"Komuro-kun! Hirano-kun, are you there?!"

As if on some unspoken cue, some pieces of rubble shifted nearby as she kept on walking, nearly making her jump. A pained groan escaped from under the rubble and upon noticing this, Shizuka wasted no time in dashing forward to help whoever was underneath remove the rubble.

"Ugh, w-what happened?" muttered Hirano-kun as the rubble was finally removed from the upper half of his body.

"I don't know, I really don't…" Shizuka began, all but tearing up now. But as emotional as she was feeling from seeing at least one person safe so far, she was also very quick and clinical in sizing the teen up for injuries.

Hirano-kun's glasses were busted up along with his nose, the rubble likely having struck him hard there given just how much blood poured out of it. He had quickly forming bruises on his face and some cuts that were bleeding, but he didn't seem to have any head wounds, amazingly enough. As groggy as he was, it didn't seem like he may have suffered a concussion, but Shizuka wasn't going to write that off just yet until she eventually gets a proper look at him.

"Stay still, okay?! I'll move the rubble away some more!" she told him, the woman entering her so-called 'nurse mode' as she sometimes called it.

Hirano-kun merely nodded and moaned, but not before speaking up some more. "Alice-chan…" he muttered. "When those explosions went off, I think I saw her and Zeke get thrown a bit to my left-."

"I'll check right now, okay?" Shizuka interrupted him. "Just let me finish clearing all the rubble off you and I'll go get them right now! I know you're clearly hurting, but anywhere in particular? Don't try to sit up or anything, just sort of shift your whole body."

Hirano-kun did that while she tried to remove the rubble still on him, but it was slow going. Some of the rubble was quite heavy and she wasn't exactly strong. Still, she could lift and move the rubble, so she persisted and her efforts were rewarded bit by bit.

"My leg…" Hirano-kun began. "My right leg feels funny, like-."

Whatever he said next, Shizuka didn't hear. Her focus was entirely on what she was currently seeing after having moved the rubble.

Hirano-kun's right leg was nothing more than mulch now, at least from calf down to his foot. And as for his left leg…

It was completely gone, from the knee down.

"Hey, hey Shizuka-san! What's wrong with my leg?"

* * *

Rei let out a low cry of agony as she freed herself from the debris trapping her. As soon as she did so, she bore witness to the burning remains of the houses that had once been around her along with the burning bodies of many undead.

She also took note of how her left ear wasn't really hearing anything, only vaguely picking up the crackling of the intense flames around her.

Grunting, she pulled herself forth, unable to generate enough strength to even stand right now, let alone walk around.

That said, upon seeing Saya nearby, unconscious and banged up but still looking to be in one piece, Rei forced herself to try standing anyways.

But sheer force of will could only do much when the body itself was so hurt. And her back… despite it having already been doing much better since the injury suffered against that 'tree' monster, it was doing a lot worse now. So very much. Even twisting her torso a bit caused pain to flare like an inferno within her lower back.

It was enough to make her cry, legitimately cry, tears pouring down her face.

"It hurts… it hurts!" she whimpered out. She never knew it was possible for the body to hurt this much and still remain in one piece.

Alas, her words didn't go unheard, apparently. It was slight, but she could hear footsteps approach her from somewhere to her right.

She could scarcely muster the energy to turn and look, afraid that some of the zombies had survived whatever occurred and were now making their way for her.

But then her mind, as distracted as it was by the pain, realized that it was only one set of footsteps approaching her and no vicious shrieking accompanying it. Not to mention the steps themselves were a bit irregular, like someone walking with a limb.

Some small measure of courage filled her and she turned in time to see Takashi all but emerge from in between two veritable pillars of flames.

"Rei…!" he called out to her upon spotting her. His unsteady walk became steady as he picked up his pace. The limb he had seemed to be sporting all but vanished as he eventually dashed for her.

"T-Takashi…" She couldn't help but whisper his name in disbelief, as if amazed he'd come for her.

Especially when he was looking so beat up, some small parts of his pants and shirt torn or even singed while sporting numerous bruises and cuts all over, with a noticeably large cut right over his right eye. A large stone or something must have grazed him during the explosions to have caused that given how dirty it looked.

But it wasn't until he was lifting her up in a princess carry that she spotted yet another injury on his body and easily the most serious one.

Despite her own pain, she couldn't help but gasp. "T-Takashi, your shoulder!"

Just behind his left shoulder, barely visible to Rei's eyes even from her spot in his arms, was a long and jagged looking piece of steel, possibly part of a lamppost that had been destroyed just now.

…It looked like it had buried a solid inch or two within the back of Takashi's shoulder too.

"Don't worry about it," he mumbled to her, distractedly. "Just… just be quiet, okay? Don't talk, save your energy. You'll be okay, Rei!"

"But-!"

"Stop!" he yelled at her, with an intensity that made her flinch. He too flinched and took a second to calm himself. "…Please, just don't talk, alright? It'll just wear you out even more. Let me get you to Shizuka – she can patch you up a bit and I'll come back for Saya real quick too and then go find the others, so please just… just…"

All the time he'd been talking right now, Takashi had been running and with surprising speed despite Rei's weight and his own wounds. But now he trailed off and slowed as he spotted something ahead of them.

And when Rei turned her head to look to, she saw why Takashi just had such a reaction.

There was Shizuka, beat up and scared as she hovered over a barely conscious Hirano-kun. And his legs were all…

"Oh god…" Rei found herself whispering, seeing just how bad the damage was to Hirano-kun. It was almost enough to make her retch despite having seen far worse these past few days. Perhaps it was because the horrific injuries the undead sported didn't affect them while this… this would definitely have an effect on the gun loving teen.

When she and Takashi got closer, Shizuka and Hirano-kun apparently heard them coming, for they both looked up at them in shock and some mild form of relief.

The sheer intensity of their emotions, however, as Shizuka was so quick to demand she be set down and looked at some odd minutes later… it told Rei just how bad this situation truly was for them all.

And so, just as she found herself unable to remain awake much longer after being set down near Hirano-kun, Rei could only pray that this wasn't to be the end for them all.

* * *

It's been several minutes since finding Shizuka and Hirano. After having set Rei down, Takashi had wasted no time in running off to go get Saya, just like he told Rei he'd do.

He made sure to look the pinkette over as critically as he could before heading back for the others. He was careful in the way he turned around to head back out for the others, not wanting Shizuka or Hirano to spot the metal beam in his shoulder.

His own injuries could wait until everyone else was accounted for to be looked at. Yeah, the others came first, not him.

Still… having it jutting out like this was a real bitch, so once he was out of sight of the others, he paused in his steps and reach back with his right hand.

The very instant he even gripped the metal beam, he felt intense pain shoot all through his left shoulder, enough to nearly make him break a tooth from how hard he gnashed his teeth together to keep from crying out.

But he persisted. Bracing himself mentally, he yanked the beam out.

Oh fucking hell, the pain was horrible, hellish beyond description. But he sucked it up as best as he could. He had a job to do.

Wiping away the blood that threatened to blind his right eye, he headed in the direction Hirano mentioned seeing Alice and Zeke getting thrown into.

He ventured forth, using the cuff of his own shirt to help him through the smoke a bit.

It was a few minutes before he reached the end of the block, or whatever remained of it, the street ahead little more than a fucking crater with flames all around it.

And that was when he spotted her.

"Alice!" Takashi called out, his voice muffled by his shirt's cuff. And there, by her side, as always, was Zeke.

He could see that although her eyes were closed, Alice was still breathing. But Zeke… Zeke's body was too still.

And when he got a much better view when a breeze helped blow some of the smoke away, he saw that it hadn't been Zeke's _entire_ body that he'd been looking at… only a part of it.

"Oh shit…"

Zeke was dead, no doubts about that, not even one no matter how much he wished otherwise.

But before he could even begin to mourn the dog as he walked, Takashi heard a now all too familiar howl coming from nearby.

A zombie.

He prayed it'd just been a trick of the ears, maybe just the roaring flames all around simply screwing with him.

But a few seconds later, his hopes were dashed when a zombie, completely uncaring that its decaying body was now on fire, smashed through whatever wreckage it'd been trapped under and turned in Alice's direction right as the girl coughed from the smoke despite being out cold.

Takashi saw red, already knowing what the zombie's next course of action would be. After all, it was a fucking zombie, its next action was obvious to anyone with a working brain.

It let loose another howl and charged right for Alice.

Like hell he was going to let that damned thing get her. They just lost Zeke. No way they were about to lose Alice too.

Letting loose a howl of his own, Takashi ran as fast as he could, meeting the zombie midway.

He tackled it, uncaring that it was on fire and that he was without a weapon anymore.

He had his fists and that was good enough.

The zombie, being what it is, was naturally unhurt from his tackle and simply rolled with things. Already, it tried to turn and bite at him even before they hit the ground.

But Takashi didn't give it half a chance. He pulled back just enough to avoid being grabbed and reached out with his thumbs, jamming them as hard as he could into the zombie's eyes. Using the sockets as a way to hold onto it, he then pulled back a bit, nearly dragging the flailing zombie with him before leaning forward suddenly, putting as much of his own weight into the action as he ended up smashing the back of the zombie's head against the ruined pavement.

He heard a sickening crack but the zombie was still kicking, clawing at him with its own hands. So Takashi slammed its head again. And then again and again and again.

He kept on slamming away even after it died, roaring in rage and despair as he did so. It wasn't until he finished his roaring that he finally stopped, panting heavily from how draining that had ended up being. It didn't help that he was wounded and breathing in a bunch of smoke either.

Fuck, he was tired.

But now was no time to be taking a break.

Standing up and giving the zombie's truly dead form an extra kick for insurance, he then turned around to face Alice, gently lifting her up… but not before having to softly pry her hand off of Zeke's remaining paw, the girl having as strong a grip as was possible for her on it.

"Even now, you protected her," he mumbled tiredly, finally taking note of the state the dog's body was in and the damage Alice had sustained. It looked like in that brief instance before the explosions had blown them all away, the small and brave dog had leapt to Alice's side to protect her from the worst of it.

If there was indeed a heaven for dogs, Takashi prayed Zeke got the best damn spot in it.

Said prayers would have to suffice for the dead dog, sadly. For he had no time to give Zeke the proper burial he deserved.

With his heart feeling heavier than ever before, Takashi quickly made his way back to the others with Alice in tow.

* * *

From afar, people – survivors – watched in horror as the entire city, or whatever remained of it, burned away to nothing more than cinders.

That there existed a creature capable of such horrific destruction…. It was too much for these people, beaten and weary from their own journeys to safe havens, to even comprehend much less figure out a contingency should such a monster ever come gunning for them.

But then, as terrible as it was to see such devastation, especially within what had once been their own neighborhood not so far away, what reason did they really have to fear such a monster? Especially when they had their savior so nearby…

Even so, something had to be done. It just had to be.

"Come on," spoke a beautiful woman, looking curvy and toned despite wearing thick clothes to protect against zombie bites. She waved a few strands of her shoulder-length auburn hair out of her face. "With that damned thing having blasted the whole city to hell, a lot of those zombies have to be dead now! Even with the fires, this'll probably be out best chance to find some more survivors!"

And so, upon rallying a small search party together, one Kiriko Miyamoto ventured forth into the streets.

Her group's destination: the area that had once been a part of their neighborhood.

* * *

Saeko grunted in pure pain, her right leg having suffered some nasty damage to the side of it thanks to those explosions some odd moments ago. So great was the damage that standing up on her own was pretty much impossible for the time being.

It was only thanks to Hayashi-sensei, who was carrying her with an arm slung over her delicate shoulder, that the swordswoman was even able to remain relatively upright.

And of course, it wasn't as if the damage to her leg was the only damage sustained – bruises and large cuts were plainly visible all over her body. The clothes she'd taken from that house were in tatters and part of her long hair had been burned right off.

The same could be said of Hayashi-sensei, looking like she'd just been mugged by a heavyweight boxer, sporting more purple bruises than cuts all over. Her clothes were a mess too, leaving the woman in a rather indecent state, Saeko's dulled mind noted for whatever reason, but all in all she got off quite lucky compared to her.

"Hang in there…" Hayashi-sensei mumbled tiredly.

"I am," Saeko replied, sounding just as winded.

She knew that she was not invincible. Never was and never will be. But she'd held a great deal of confidence in her physical conditioning, which had seen her through every skirmish thus far without suffering too much damage in the process.

But never had she imagined ever being reduced to this current state. Oddly enough, it humbled her, but also terrified her. Especially since…

Saeko grimaced as she hefted her blade, which she'd managed to hold onto whilst being flung earlier.

Well, whatever was left of the blade, that is. Those explosions earlier had been extremely powerful and that sheer amount of force combined with some very inconveniently flung rubble in her general direction had resulted in her sword being broke into many pieces.

Only the hilt along with perhaps an inch of the now jagged blade attached remained of her once reliable weapon.

And given their current states, they might as well be truly defenseless now, a fact that only made the normally composed swordswoman break out in a sweat.

The raging fires all around weren't helping either.

Not a word was spoken between her and Hayashi-sensei as they ventured forth in the direction they'd originally been going in when those explosions went off. They both silently hoped to find the others, most preferably alive.

And some odd minutes later, they succeeded.

"Shizuka!" Hayashi-sensei cried out in surprise and extreme relief upon seeing the busty blonde in question.

But relief turned to horror as she went ignored and ended up spotting the rest of their group.

They… didn't look all that well.

Especially Hirano-kun, whose legs were…

Saeko grimaced at the sight.

Right now, Shizuka was patching up an unconscious Alice, said young girl covered with bruises and cuts, not unlike Hayashi-sensei here, but with some hair singed too, a lot of soot on the side of her face.

…Where was Zeke though?

Not to mention…

"Where did Komuro-kun go?" Hayashi-sensei asked quietly as they got closer.

Shizuka, now finally noticing them, lit up with a fervent joy at seeing them alive, but then the light in her eyes died upon seeing their injuries.

"He… went out looking for you two. You just missed him by a few minutes…" she muttered as she quickly went back to patching up Alice.

Saeko narrowed her eyes. Komuro-kun was out there still? In the midst of all these flames and ash? Did that mean he was relatively okay, to be able to move around like that?

Worry blossomed within her heart and seemed to grab hold of her with a vice grip.

"Set her down her, Kyouko-chan," Shizuka all but demanded. "I don't have many supplies left, but I think I can at least cover up the worst of the wounds you both have…"

Shizuka trailed off as she continued her work on Alice.

Saeko spared a glance to the others, all of them in varying states of unconsciousness and delirium. Miyamoto-san, for example, was alert enough to notice their arrival, but seemed woozy.

In any case, Shizuka had already made it a point to patch them up. Well, the worst of their injuries, that is, but they all would need far better care to get better, care that can't possibly be provided in this situation.

Being set down gently by Hayashi-sensei, Saeko grunted as she huddled up with the others, her companion all but hovering over Alice while Shizuka still worked on her.

"How is she?" Hayashi-sensei asked.

"She'll be okay, but we need to get out of all this fire and soot," Shizuka responded, the nurse looking more serious than ever before. She shot a glance to the others. "We need to move them all, but-!"

A roar cut her off before she could even finish.

They all froze, even Saeko.

That roar was all too familiar to them by now.

Saeko and the others that were still conscious turned their heads in the direction the roar had come from.

And sure enough, from out between the flames that had once been a house came the 'dog.'

Much like them all, it hadn't survived those explosions completely unscathed, its body singed all over. The wounds it had received up until now had been open wounds though ones that didn't bleed all that much, but now thanks to the flames, they'd been cauterized.

The monster was clearly capable of feeling pain, something it should be feeling an immense if not outright crippling amount of, yet here it slowly came, hunger and malice radiating off its very being as if it were a physical force.

At the sight of this monster, all of them froze. Even Saeko, to whom freezing up had never been a thing, felt her very breath still.

But then, how could she not freeze up? They all were hurt, badly so, and she was without a proper weapon. A broken sword would do little against such a beast, especially when it still looked like it could go a few rounds.

Despite not having any visible eyes, the monster seemed to size them up. It assessed their current states and let out a triumphant growl.

It prepared to pounce on them all and Saeko braced herself for death-.

Only for the monster to howl in pain and shock when Komuro-kun leapt from behind it and stabbed a jagged metal beam into its back.

The monster flailed around, metal beam piercing its body, dragging Komuro-kun along for the ride too.

Yet even with how violently the 'dog' writhed, the teen absolutely refused to let go. It was slight, but Saeko was able to get a good look at his face in this interim and she couldn't help but gasp.

For in Komuro-kun's eyes burned a fire far greater than the ones all around them.

Again, she found herself amazed, even entranced by the teen.

Was this truly the same slacker she'd heard of before?

* * *

Takashi inwardly grimaced. He'd hoped his attack would've pierced the monster all the way through, but only sunk in some odd inches. Now here he was being flung around like a ragdoll while the monster writhed in pain.

He held on for dear life though, refusing to fall off. But no matter how stubborn he was, the body could only do so much.

The monster finally seemed to ignore the pain enough to give the metal pole a proper heft and it sent him flying.

He went crashing into the ground, hitting his injured shoulder hard. Takashi cried out but did his best to roll to a stop and get up.

He did so just in time to see the monster twist its own head and reach out with its shortened tongue, pulling out the pole and tossing it aside.

Then it turned and glared at him despite its head being a mass of teeth more than anything. Looks like he was now its sole target.

But that was fine with him – better him than the others, all of whom were really fucking hurting.

Gotta protect them.

The monster charged at him at pretty surprising speeds. It might be too hurt to be running around at car-chasing speeds like the first time they'd met, but it was still a hell of a lot faster than him. Even though there was a fair distance between them, it still reached him before he could dodge.

The two of them collided and went rolling across the ground for several yards before coming to a stop.

The monster's mass of teeth reached out to tear his shoulder out, but Takashi managed to grab hold of a large and loose piece of asphalt and shoved it into the monster's mouth. It ended up biting down on it and naturally met resistance, resistance great enough to not immediately break apart.

But that didn't stop the monster from lashing out with whatever passed for paws and Takashi ended up taking several nasty slaps and slashes before kicking off the monster's stomach, breaking out of its pseudo-hold.

As soon as he did so, he got up and circled around, kicking it violently in its back a few times, making sure to try hitting it in its wounds.

The monster howled in pain as it finally devoured the asphalt and rolled away, getting up in an instant. Then it spat the broken-up asphalt out.

The pieces struck Takashi hard and fast. His ribs undoubtedly got bruised and one of them struck him in the nose, dislocating it.

He went falling back and the monster pounced, ready to crush him under its own weight. And sure enough, when it landed on him, it felt as if someone had dropped a large fridge on him, knocking all the air right out of his lungs and diaphragm.

His visions started going black, but even then, he pushed on. No way he was going to die that easily to this piece of shit thing, no matter how strong his déjà vu was feeling right now.

With no weapons to hand, he simply started swinging his fists wildly at it, hitting it in its stomach while the monster tried to bite down on his skull. He was forced to tilt his head to the sides to avoid having his face eaten off, but then its tongue lashed out and wrapped around his neck after dodging a few times.

It squeezed suddenly and with a surprising strength, cutting what little air he was getting in and kept him in place. His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets from the force.

And then the monster tried to reel his head in, for lack of a better way to put it. Its mass of teeth opened wide, finally exposing the back of its large throat, from where this tongue originated from.

The mass of teeth all but surrounded Takashi's head and started to swiftly clamp down-.

Only for Takashi, out of pure desperation and insanity, reached up with both hands and tried to keep the teeth from fully clamping down on his head.

He pushed back with all the strength he had, not even caring that his hands were pretty much impaling themselves on the sharp teeth this thing had. The monster's tongue loosened slightly, possibly from surprise, and this allowed Takashi enough air to let out the loudest battle cry that he could muster.

But the monster's surprise only lasted a second at most and its tongue tightened its hold once more around his neck, choking him. His strength ended up faltering for a split second and it tried to bite down with even more force than before.

Even then, Takashi refused to die that easily. The others were depending on him here.

He reached deep into that secret well of strength that he now instinctively felt he had and after a long and arduous moment, was able to _push back_ the teeth threatening to rip his head off.

The monster let out a gurgling sound of pure shock and perhaps because of this and the damage it's taken up until now, its strength faltered.

This allowed Takashi to push the mass of teeth back even more and after securing for himself enough room to pull back, he risked reaching into the thing's mouth with his left hand and grabbed where the root of the tongue was at…

…And then yanked it as hard as he could.

Blood spurted out of the mouth and all over Takashi's face as the grip the tongue had around his throat finally went completely slack.

The monster backed off of him, crying shrilly in pain, giving him just enough time to finally take in as much air as was possible.

Throwing the now limp tongue aside, he stood up and ran at the thing, picking up a piece of stone. Approaching the monster quickly, he started swinging the stone like mad at its left side.

The monster seemed to recoil from the hits, only to then lash out with a paw, nearly cutting Takashi's stomach open. Had he not sucked in his gut and leapt back at the last possible second, it might have actually succeeded in this endeavor.

The extremely close call with death just now didn't deter him one bit though and as though possessed by some barbarian or something, Takashi roared with every single emotion he had.

All of the anger and sadness and despair he's felt up until now, emotions he'd been suppressing for _years_ on end came welling up to the surface as he leapt forward and started wailing on the monster, with stone and fist.

His sudden bout of fury made it retreat yet again, only for the monster's own fury to now ignite in full. It roared, more loudly than ever before, deafening Takashi enough to not hear the monster jump lightly to shift positions.

The monster then tackled him hard, knocking him into the ground. Takashi's head impacted the asphalt with a frightening force, making him see nothing but blackness for a few seconds.

And that was all the time the monster needed to flip him over and bite into the back of his shoulder, where his most grievous wound was at.

Takashi screamed in pain and then surprise when the monster lifted him up a bit only to then slam him face-first into the ground. It lifted him up and then slammed him down again. And then again and again and again and again.

Takashi had no way of fighting back like this, unable to reach back to hit the monster.

Panic finally began to replace the rage he'd felt just now.

Was this it? Was this how he was going to die, unable to protect the others?

Speaking of which…

It was slight, distant even, but he could swear he heard the others crying out for him, screaming his name in horror.

Shizuka…

Kyouko…

Hirano…

Alice…

Saya…

Saeko…

Rei.

 _Rei._

 _REI._

"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" he bellowed.

When the monster lifted him up again, Takashi reached back with both hands and grabbed hold of the monster's mass of teeth. Once again, his hands were stabbed by the teeth, but he didn't give a flying fuck anymore.

Securing his grip as best as he could, he yelled and pulled with every single ounce of strength he had… and succeeded in pulling the monster overhead.

It yelped in shock as it went slamming into the ground before him, its back hitting the asphalt hard. Its teeth tore free of his shoulder, ripping off some of the skin and muscle there in the process.

But Takashi barely even noticed this anymore, running on a fury and determination unlike anything felt before.

He didn't care that he'd just lifted a monster that weighed over 500 pounds. What mattered to him now was that he made a promise to himself to keep the others safe… as well as a promise to not just himself but Hisashi as well that he'd take care of Rei.

Like fucking hell he was going to let any of these damned monsters keep him from upholding that promise.

Spotting a stop sign that had been upheaved from the sidewalk during the explosions nearby, he picked it up and wasted no time stabbing it into the monster before it could fully roll over.

It shrieked and its mass of teeth tried lashing out at his right leg, only for Takashi to pull the stop sign out of its stomach and smash it against the monster's teeth. He pulled it back again and stabbed away, his every action pretty much violence incarnate.

He ended up actually knocking a number of teeth loose and out of the mass and just kept on going until he finally started to really feel his fatigue returning, but not before sticking his weapon down the monster's throat as far as he could.

The monster's cries were abruptly cut off by this action and it seemed to choke on the stop sign, but even then it still just wouldn't give up and die – it rolled over onto its stomach and swung its whole body, using the stop sign now jutting out of its mouth to hit Takashi.

The sign itself ended up smacking into the side of his right knee and sent him crumbling to the ground.

As this happened, the 'dog' stood up slowly and finally used its mass of teeth to break the stop sign in two. It spat out the first half to the side and then manipulated its teeth to draw out the other half embedded within.

Then it charged forward and impaled Takashi with it just as he started getting up, the now jagged metal pole going all the way through the left side of his torso and coming out the back, lifting him onto his feet in the process.

Takashi let out a mild gasp, a stark contrast with what he was really feeling. Even so, he tried to pull himself off the damned pole, but the monster spat out the pole before he could do so, causing him to go stumbling back onto a pile of rubble.

The monster backed off a bit, coughing and hacking, the teeth that had been knocked loose falling out. This gave Takashi just enough time to pull the pole out of him and fling it over him.

He put a hand to the new wound, feeling the blood practically pouring out of him like a faucet.

Now he could definitely say this wasn't good.

But even then…

He can't fall just yet. Not until that monster was dead.

"Come on…" he whispered as he glared at the monster in question. It now seemed to have recovered and it glared back at him. "Let's see who breaks first, you fucker."

The monster hissed and started to run towards him. And Takashi knew he wouldn't be able to dodge yet again, so he braced himself for impact-.

-Only for the sound of a bullet to pierce through the noise and strike the monster's front paw.

It howled in surprise and ceased its charge, turning to see who'd done that… only for a few more shots to ring out and strike its front legs, blowing some of the weakened and tender flesh right off.

Takashi turned in surprise towards the others, most of whom should've been incapable of being awake right now.

And there, having been nearly out cold and delirious up until now was Hirano, who'd been leaning against a pillar of stone. His gun, which had survived all this intact, was held up and the barrel was practically smoking.

"Don't need legs to shoot," he called out, the normally mild manner gun geek spitting out those words as if to literally poison someone.

"Komuro-kun!" Saeko called out, her expression most severe yet with eyes brimming with admiration and resolve. "Here!"

She threw something in his general direction and it audibly clanged against the ground.

Her sword, broken so that only the hilt and a bit of blade remained…

But it would definitely do.

Moving as though his newest wound didn't exist for the time being, Takashi grabbed the broken sword and slowly started walking towards the monster, whose front legs were wobbling a lot thanks to those shots Hirano had fired.

He'd gone for the knees, it seemed and thanks to how beat up this monster was by now, had succeeded in incapacitating it to some degree.

Even so, the monster tried to move forward, attempting to meet Takashi halfway.

What a tenacious bastard. It was persistent, Takashi will give it that much.

But now, it was time to put this damned thing down.

"And stay down too," he murmured to it, raising the broken sword high.

And then brought it down on the monster's back.

He went for the wounded spots, where its flesh was most vulnerable. And broken or not, the sword worked well enough in piercing through the muscle tissue there, especially with how hard Takashi was stabbing away.

The monster roared but pitifully so and tried to fight back, its mass of teeth trying to reach out and grab Takashi.

But Takashi kept his distance and just kept on stabbing all over the 'dog's body until its strength ebbed away and it finally fell to the ground.

However, the monster kept on groaning in defiance, its 'head' still moving, so Takashi kept at it, uncaring of how much blood he was swiftly becoming drenched in.

Minutes go by and finally the monster now seems to have gone completely still. Takashi still stabbed it a few more times just to play it safe.

Even when he finally backed away from the monster, he kept his eyes on it intensely, all but daring the damned thing to somehow get up.

But it would never do so again – it was finally dead.

And when this fact was recognized by him Takashi, he finally turned around and started to make his way towards the others.

Except now, with the danger subdued, his injuries and fatigue were really catching up with him now.

And so, before he was even a quarter of the way back to the others, he fell face-first to the ground.

The last thing he heard before blacking out was someone calling his name.

* * *

 **And that's a wrap! Man, that was a lot of fun to write, but not as fun as certain future chapters are going to be, heh.**

 **So the 'dog' is finally dead. What do you guys think of that? Despite how limited its appearances were in this fic, was it an enjoyable aspect of the story up to this point? Was its battle with Takashi fun? Let me know!**

 **Again, not much else to really say other than to clarify just one thing: last chapter when I said this would be a harem fic and I said it'd be story-related, it will be in a way that I'm pretty sure most of you guys won't be expecting. So, for once, I say this: don't get your expectations up too much just yet. Still, I do hope you'll enjoy that particular twist.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	15. Chapter 15

Aaaannnddddd back yet again! Yeah, seems like I really am on fire with this fic lately, ha ha. Not only is my writer's block regarding my novel still persisting, but after reviewing a large portion of said novel, I'm beginning to have second doubts about how I set up the plot and the setting. Quite frankly, I'm now starting to think I should restart the novel from scratch, something I feel oddly eager to do yet hesitant to go through with at the same time.

Well, even if I do go through with this, rewriting it the way I truly want shouldn't be too hard – the MC will still be the same in appearance and abilities, it's just a slight tweaking of personality along with a far better setting to be (somewhat) explored. Other characters will be far better adjusted for the setting and I can likely insert far better humor into things.

Again though, this is just a thought I'm dwelling on, albeit seriously.

Well, on another note, got around to seeing the new Devil May Cry 5 trailer/gameplay, Doom Eternal, and watched Mile 22!

Man, as always, DMC was just freaking amazing. Seriously, I knew the instant the first trailer came out so suddenly that I wanted the game, but after seeing this new Gamescom trailer along with Dante and his new weapon at the end, I'm really wanting that game right now, ha ha! Bet I'm not the only fan thinking along this line.

And the style of it too – it's like Capcom combined the combat system, style and speed of the original series with some of the environmental effects/destruction from DmC and threw in a pinch of Bayonetta regarding some of the demon designs. And it really works! And damn, that Devil Trigger song… still stuck in my head! This game is going to be epic!

Then there's Doom Eternal too! Honestly, growing up, I never played any of the Doom games, but always did watch others play it, so when the 2016 one came out, I got pretty easily swept up with all the hype too, ha ha. And seeing the gameplay trailer for it really shows just how much the developers were able to improve on the combat from the previous game with relatively minor changes. Seriously, that chain shotgun and the dash function Doom Slayer now has really makes him much more of a lightning bruiser! Same thing goes for that new arm blade of his too! I can see a lot of speedrunners having a little too much fun with the new possibilities in this upcoming game.

And finally, Mile 22. Heard how it got a bunch of rather bad reviews, but honestly it was a pretty good movie as far as mindless action goes… which I'm assuming was the basic point of it. Iko Uwais really killed it too, so I'm eager to see him get bigger and bigger roles in movies.

That said, yeah, I did have some issues with the film – the camera would shake too much during action scenes, not to mention a lot of cuts to show the fighting from different angles when only a few would've sufficed, not to mention that said bunch of cuts were really damn quick; blink even once or twice and you might miss a few scenes. Seriously. Also, a lot of the characters were angry assholes with quite a fondness for f-bombs all the time. I mean, I get their job is extremely stressful, physically and psychologically, but God damn. The only humor to be found in the movie was some of the hostile banter between everyone.

Nonetheless, if you guys are interested in just a typical mindless action movie with a mildly surprising twist or two, it's still pretty good.

But on another note, feeling really disappointed in Sakuragames. For those of you who don't know of them, they're a company that translates visual novels into Chinese and English. Now from what I hear, they're pretty decent when it comes to Chinese translations, but their English translations are shitty. And recently, they translated one of my favorite VNs – Fortissimo, which served as the basis for my God Slaying Wolf fic – and they butchered the hell out of it for the English version. Piss-poor grammar, horrible sentence structure, just general maiming of the text and terminology for the VN. Not only that, but they gave themselves such a ridiculously tight deadline for translating and editing Fortissimo that they only ended up translating the first 3 or 4 hours of the VN before making it available for purchase on Steam… and the VN is around 50 hours long with 3 routes.

Seriously, just what the hell, Sakuragames?!

And damn, what an AN to start this chapter with! Sorry about that, didn't mean to make it this long, but I just had a lot to share, ha ha ha.

Whelp, I'm all talked out now – time to start the chapter!

P.S. thanks, TheDarkHollow! So far, life has been okay for me. Your concern is appreciated!

Chapter 15

The Demon perked up just as its current target tried to make its form molecularly combust. Said attempt failed – it was simply far too powerful.

With what amounted to an afterthought, it wiped its current target, a woman in her teens along with the girl's unconscious mother, from existence.

It was still currently within the landmass known as Europe – many of its would-be targets seemed to have populated this area over the many years – but now it had once again detected its target.

And unlike before, where the 'signal' or 'connection' had been extremely weak, this time around it was noticeably stronger.

Strong enough for the Demon to realize that its target certainly wasn't in Europe, but rather in that much smaller landmass called…. Japan, yes, that was the name, it believed.

It could detect several people, maybe more, that could be its target there. It'd have to start with one and then work its way through the others, but that was no longer something to worry about, not that it ever had worried about such a thing.

For the first time, the Demon felt something akin to anticipation fill it.

It wouldn't be long until it had found the one it was after.

* * *

 **IGIGNDJGNDIOGNGKDFJDHUDIOFNVLSKOS9RJGFKM,** **KKNJHIUITWHSHJNABJABSIGHSIOJSGMOIGMNONIJOnuihugsuigbuihUIHUHUIHIIUniunjinisjoisnONJSNGISNGIJSNGINiisniniuNIBIUBIUiuiuafuiiuuiinjiJIBIJBIbibiuBbhbkjbhjiouh**

Takashi awoke with a sudden start as once again gibberish filled his mind to what felt like a bursting point.

He nearly let out a scream from the fright, the feeling of dread that said gibberish induced in him feeling much more powerful than ever but managed to keep from following through with this near instinctive action.

He stared blankly upwards, trying to steady his heartrate, which felt like it was going a hundred miles a minute right now.

It wasn't until after he finally felt himself calm down enough that he realized he was staring up at a ceiling and a remarkably clean one at that too.

Not to mention familiar too.

"What…?" he muttered quite groggily and dryly, his throat parched.

Slowly, he sat up, almost regretting this action as every single wound he had felt like it was being aggravated.

But he pushed through the pain, noting only vaguely that said wounds were all bandaged up. He'd been lying on a bed and now he got up off it and started to head for the door… but not before pausing at the sight of fresh clothes lying there on a chair nearby.

Looking down to see he was wearing nothing but his boxers right now, Takashi wasted no time putting the clothes on – _his_ clothes.

As soon as he did so, he all but charged right out of the room, specifically the guest room that Rei's place had.

For that was exactly where he was at – he was in Rei's house.

How the hell did he get here? When? What about the others? Were they safe? These but a few of many questions that swirled within his mind as he walked down the hallway of the all too familiar house.

The houses in this neighborhood was a lot alike, being two story structures with the insides themselves not being all that different from one another unless the residents felt like doing some construction. In this case, the guest bedroom was located at the end of the hallway on the second floor of the house, but with some sections of the walls neatly cut out as to allow any up here to look down and see the stairs leading down to the first floor.

It's been years since he's ever been here, but he remembered practically ever inch of this place like the back of his hand; he and Rei used to run around this house like crazy as kids whenever it was impossible to play outside for whatever reason, like rain or heavy snow.

However, as familiar as this all was, Takashi couldn't help but slowly walk about, completely on guard. The house currently felt too empty and definitely way too fucking clean considering the damned apocalypse was still ongoing outside.

…Shit. Was he dead? Was this hell or purgatory or whatever?

He gulped, feeling extremely unsure. He didn't feel as if he was dead but then just how was death even supposed to feel like? The pain from his wounds sure felt real, but if an afterlife really did exist, he doubted whatever rules such a realm would have would adhere to life so strictly.

"Fuck… I'm being paranoid," he muttered.

Now that was he up and walking around, the memories of what had happened prior to blacking out started to return.

Those explosions.

Looking for Rei and the others.

Zeke's dead and ravaged body.

That 'dog' and the battle he had with it.

Plus the fact that the damned monster was finally dead.

Even so, whatever feelings of accomplishment such a fact should normally bring didn't quite fill him, if only because everyone else's current status occupied his thoughts.

He made his way for the stairs, only to pause in front of the room that was closest to said stairs.

This was Rei's room.

The door was closed but after a brief minute of contemplation, he gently opened it…

And saw Rei lying there on her bed.

Much like him, she was pretty much stripped down to her undergarments, her body cleaned and bandaged up. Rei was asleep, not peacefully so, judging by the expression on her face, but the mere fact she was alive and in one piece put him at ease.

Still… seeing her look to be in pain while asleep, it made him want to step right in and do something for her. Maybe hold her hand or something, something he definitely felt like doing.

But he held back. As much as he wanted to tend to Rei right now, he had to check on the others.

So, he quietly closed the door and started to head downstairs. And just as soon as he did that and started heading to the left to inspect the rest of the house, the front door suddenly opened.

And in walked none other than Kiriko Miyamoto – Rei's mom.

The two spotted each other and all but froze in place in surprise.

"K-Kiriko-san…?" Takashi found himself muttering, unable to believe his eyes.

The woman's stare of shock turned into one of relief. The woman then laughed quietly. "Man, it's great to see you again, Takashi. Come here…"

He hardly had time to react, too shocked and sluggish, as Kiriko walked up to him and enveloped him in a hug.

She patted him on the back gently. "Glad you all pulled through," she mumbled as she finally broke the hug off.

Takashi could only gape. "I- how- what-," he stuttered out stupidly. Shaking his head, he tried to get his thoughts in order. "What happened? How'd I end up here?"

Kiriko smiled. "Not long after all those explosions went off, I rounded up some people and we went running around the neighborhood, figuring now was as good a time as any to find some more survivors – figured most of those damned zombies would be burned to a crisp, so we wouldn't have to worry much about combat," she began. "Well, we still encountered some along the way, but compared to before, their numbers were easily dealt with. We scrounged around as best as we could and not too long afterwards, we found you and my daughter and some others – your friends, right? – and wasted no time bringing you all back here."

"How's everyone?" was Takashi's next immediate question.

At this, Kiriko's expression morphed into a grimace. "They were all hurting pretty badly, especially the other guy in your group when the shock from losing his legs wore off and the pain really hit him… but they're all alive and still in one piece for the most part. That nurse friend of yours was like a demon possessed when they were all brought back here – gathered up a lot of our medical supplies and pretty much went to town on you all, treating everyone." She paused. "That aside though… wow… didn't know breasts that big could exist…"

Somehow, that last sentence made Takashi let out an odd snort, feeling so relieved to just know that everyone was still alive that he couldn't help but find Kiriko's comment funny.

However, the relief only lasted a moment.

Even if everyone was alive, there's obviously no way they escaped unscathed. Like Hirano with his legs for example…

"Where are they all at right now?" he asked. "I saw Rei in her room up there, but the rest of this place is empty… not to mention still in pretty damn pristine condition."

Now it was Kiriko's turn to snort. "You can thank your mom for that." His expression grew confused at that. "You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"Ah, never mind." Kiriko sure wasted no time deflecting his question. "To answer your original question, we have the others resting in the house next door – much bigger and naturally with more rooms. Think of it as a pseudo-medical center for us all."

Now he was feeling really confused. "What do you mean by that?"

Kiriko couldn't help but smile a bit. "Better to just show you."

She turned around and beckoned him to follow her, which he didn't really have a choice in.

Kiriko went outside and he followed after her – and was immediately blown away.

The destruction of the various neighborhoods and the city was quite evident even from here, numerous fires raging practically everywhere. However, as he looked around, he could see that what looked like half of this block was practically untouched, looking as pristine as always.

What shocked him the most, though, was what looked like a barrier, like what he'd see in games and animes, that seemed to cut off these untouched houses from the rest of the world. The sheer number of people walking about, carrying various supplies or discussing things amongst themselves was another surprise that left him standing stock-still.

But then a second later, he snapped out of his daze and quickly walked, almost even ran, after Kiriko who'd kept on walking.

"Whoa, easy there," she said. "You were really hurt, you know?"

He paid pretty much zero attention to her words as well as the pain that flared within his wounds. "What the hell is all this?!" he nearly shouted, unable to contain his shock. "How did this happen?"

"Again, that's something you're going to have to discuss with your parents, specially your mom," answered Kiriko. "What I can tell you, though, is that this is how we've been pulling through so far – when shit hit the fan, this barrier was erected and it's been keeping us all safe so far from everything. Nothing hostile can come through, but we can still travel out. That's why there's more people than you'd expect running around here; the neighbors were some of the first people I and others went out to rescue and we've even managed to take in some stragglers that had been running for safety from elsewhere."

Now Kiriko sighed. "It's been working wonders so far, but with so many people now, it's been a time and a half figuring out ways to manage what supplies we did have in case of injuries and going out to get more resources too… not to mention just how many of us had wanted to travel farther out without success."

"What do you…?"

"When those monsters started to appear and making people into zombies, the very first thing I thought of was going to get Rei," Kiriko began. "But that proved impossible with all the initial chaos in the streets. I'm sure it was hell on earth where you all were at, considering how populated the school is as well as the areas around it since it's in the middle of the damned city… but things got bad pretty quickly out here in the residential areas too since it seemed like a lot of those monsters had cut through these areas to get to the city in the first place. Because of that, I ended up having to fend for myself and the others here before I could even think of going to get my daughter."

Kiriko took a breath. "Seriously, you have no idea how thankful I am to know for sure that she'll be safe, Takashi. She was smiling now, softly. "You and those others helped to keep her safe, right? I bet it couldn't have been easy."

"She was able to protect herself too…" Takashi began. "Not to mention help protect us when needed."

"Mhm, all that time in that club of hers helped out, I take it. That's good. But the point I was trying to make is that a lot of us had loved ones out there in the city. So many of us had wanted to go there and see if they were okay… and with mixed results. Some of us, such as myself, reluctantly decided to wait and see how this played out before forming search parties. Others decided not to wait and rushed out there. Some of them came back. Others didn't."

It got silent between the two of them, the only noise being the others around them that occupied themselves with different tasks.

"I'm sorry…" Takashi said quietly.

Kiriko shook her head. "Don't be – we all had it rough."

"…What about your husband? Where's he at?" Takashi decided to ask – and immediately regretted doing so at the sight of Kiriko's pained expression.

"Don't know. He was out there in the city when things went nuts. Phone lines went busy immediately after the outbreak started so I and others haven't been able to get in contact with him. And like I just said – sending out search parties into the city hadn't been the most viable option. Probably will never be, seeing as the city is nothing more than a burning wasteland now." Kiriko, who'd always been a tough but lively and friendly woman, teared up a bit. "It was supposed to be his day off that day too, but they called him in at the last minute for a case…"

"I…I think he's alright," Takashi uttered. "I mean, he's probably one of the toughest guys I've ever known. Wouldn't surprise me if he fought his way out of the city over the past couple of days… he's probably just having trouble circling around to come back here."

A lie if there ever was one. Considering just how bad the downtown area had been compared to the school when all this shit first started, surviving would've been flat out impossible.

Naturally, Kiriko knew it was a false assurance, but she smiled gratefully nonetheless. "Thanks, kid. Come on, let's go check on your friends."

Nodding, Takashi proceeded to follow the woman as she led him to the house next door.

And all the while, he thought about these new revelations.

His mom had a hand in this, huh? Well, that was definitely a surprise.

But when had she been able to do things like this? How?

Well, if there was one thing he was definitely certain of now, it was that he finally had a reason to talk to his mom after all this time.

It was just a damned shame it took the apocalypse for this to happen.

* * *

Kyouko had never felt more tired than she did right now. It's been several hours since she and the others had been found and taken back here by Miyamoto-san's mom and others.

Since then, she'd done her best to help Shizuka as best as she could, for her busty friend had been the one with the most medical knowledge here, it seemed.

Having long since grown tired of having little to contribute to the group, Kyouko had made sure to ask questions whenever it'd been appropriate and had done her best to soak up the knowledge Shizuka imparted to her as they and some others worked to patch up the injured.

It'd been rough going, especially with Hirano-kun's remaining leg having been reduced to mulch – God, what a horrible sight that had been – but in the end, they'd been able to succeed in their self-imposed duties.

And now here she was holding the hand of Alice, who'd woken up some odd hours ago and had started crying over Zeke's sad death. She nor the others had even told the girl about his death, but apparently the girl just knew somehow. The poor girl had cried herself to sleep and it was all Kyouko could do to keep from crying herself.

As for Shizuka, the blonde woman was resting on a makeshift bed nearby. Of the whole group, she'd perhaps been the least injured, but easily among the most exhausted thanks to her tireless efforts to tend to the rest. So after patching herself up, she'd pretty much passed out from the accumulated fatigue, leaving only her and a few others to stand by.

She was honestly pretty tired herself but refused to rest. Not until the others woke up and she got a feel for how they were doing would she dare to even think of sleep.

She was roused from her thoughts, however, when the door to this home turned medical center opened.

Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest when in walked Kiriko Miyamoto followed by Komuro-kun, who'd she fretted over along with the others due to the severity of his own injuries. To see him already up and walking was simply mind-boggling.

"K-Komuro-kun?!"

"Kyouko…" he muttered, looking just as surprised as she felt. But his expression turned to relief. "You're alright…"

Something about how relieved he looked upon seeing her made her blush despite herself and remain quiet. This turned out to be something of a good thing because it gave Komuro-kun a chance to step forward and look at everyone else, his expression most critical.

"And they're all…?" he began.

"T-they'll be fine," Kyouko was able to somewhat stutter out. She brushed aside some loose strands of hair. "Their wounds have been cleaned and patched up. We also rounded up some medication to give them for any pain, but they'll still be hurting for a while. For now, they just need to rest."

Komuro-kun nodded dumbly. Then he looked to Hirano-kun and winced upon looking at where the gun user's legs ought to be at under the covers.

Kyouko couldn't blame him for that reaction.

"They had to amputate whatever remained of the left leg," spoke Kiriko-san softly. "It was nothing but mulch – no way to save it."

"I figured." Komuro-kun's response was rather despondent. "How about Alice? Did anyone tell her about…?"

Kyouko grimaced. "She seemed to know without us even having to tell her… she cried herself to sleep…. Zeke truly was a loyal dog, wasn't he?"

Komuro-kun nodded. "Yeah, he sure was…"

A most awkward silence fell upon them. Thankfully it didn't last long.

"Say, where'd Seto go?" Kiriko-san asked.

"Seto…? She's here too?" Komuro-kun asked, mildly surprised.

Kyouko knew who they were speaking of. Seto-san was a beautiful brunette that lived in this neighborhood, very shapely even more so than Kyouko herself and outdone only by Shizuka. She'd been one of the few others that had assisted her and Shizuka in helping patch everyone up.

Apparently, the woman had known Komuro-kun and Miyamoto-san since they were very young kids.

"Ah, she stepped out for a while to rest. Something about having been up for nearly two days?" Kyouko answered uncertainly.

But Kiriko-san nodded, accepting her answer. "Yeah, makes sense. Barrier or not, we've all been running ourselves pretty ragged in making sure we were prepared for just about anything anyways."

Speaking of which… "Uhm, what exactly is that barrier anyways?" Kyouko asked of the woman. She and Shizuka had been so focused on tending to the others that any questions they'd held about this odd barrier hadn't even registered within their minds.

But now that things have calmed down just a bit and Kiriko-san had brought it up, Kyouko found herself most interested in learning how this thing came to be.

"I don't know the specifics," the woman in question replied. "But his parents here know about it, specifically his mom." She pointed at Komuro-kun, whose expression shifted at the mention of his parents.

Kyouko couldn't help but shiver at the intensity of his expression. He definitely wanted answers and soon at that too.

"Is… is that true, Komuro-kun?" she asked of him.

"Apparently," he muttered in a rather clipped tone.

"You… didn't know about this in advance at all?" Now Kyouko sounded confused. However this barrier was made, his parents probably had a hand in it judging by Kiriko-san's tone. But at the same time, it seems the teen had been completely unaware of such capabilities being within his parents' grasp.

"If I'd known, I'd have made it a point to bring you all here first," he said, sounding rather annoyed, so much so that Kyouko flinched away. His eyebrow twitched and he took a deep breath before slowly letting it out. "Sorry, didn't mean to get all snappy like that… but I really didn't know anything about this, Kyouko. And I don't intend on waiting any longer to find out."

Having apparently satisfied himself with seeing them all safe now, Komuro-kun turned around and made ready to leave, Kiriko-san sighing quietly as she turned to go with him.

But before the two could do so…

"Wait!" Kyouko called out to them, specifically the teen. When both of them paused mid-step, Kyouko quickly continued. "I… I just wanted to say thank you, Komuro-kun. If not for your efforts as well as the help provided by Hirano-kun and Busujima-san, we all would've been killed by that 'dog.'"

She bowed her head in gratitude, even though the teen still had his back to her. "Thank you. It's because of you that we're still alive."

Kyouko raised her head, a smile on her face. Although far from a grand speech, she meant every word she'd just said.

Never in her wildest imagination would she have imagined a teen that had been deemed a slacker to struggle so viciously against something so hellish. Not simply for his own sake either, but for that of others.

Yes, it could now be said that Komuro-kun here truly was an amazing person, deserving of her respect and admiration.

She hoped she was able to get even an inkling of these feelings of hers across to him.

Without turning around, she saw him nod deeply in acknowledgement of her words. "…Lead the way, Kiriko-san," he said softly. "Take me to my parents."

"…Sure."

Kiriko-san started to walk again, but not before turning back briefly to look at Kyouko, smiling brightly at her before leaving.

And following after her, Komuro-kun left.

He kept his back to her the whole time.

* * *

A man wiped the sweat off his forehead after finishing up his current task, which had been physically hauling numerous chairs in and out of certain houses around here to better make room for others, especially since even now they all were staying busy trying to neatly stockpile anything useful they had just in case it became necessary.

The chairs may not have been heavy, but there'd definitely been a lot of them and the constant walking back and forth had sure worked up a sweat for the guy. He wished to take a shower, but knew it'd have to wait until later, once things settle down for the day.

Standing to his full height, being just an inch over six feet, the man took this super brief respite to stretch his lean and wiry body, after which he ran a hand through his messy black hair.

"Oh man…" he muttered. "What a time to be alive…"

Of course, despite saying that, he'd known for quite some time that something like this would occur. Okay, maybe not quite know for sure, but he'd at least been expecting something especially out of the ordinary to occur… he just hadn't been expecting zombies and monsters to suddenly start roaming about. And he certainly hadn't been expecting things to go south this badly.

It'd been a good thing he'd decided to go home super early the day this all had occurred, otherwise he might have very well died out there on the first day of the apocalypse. But even so, seeing just how many people had lost their lives from then until now… it weighed heavily on his heart.

But he knew it weighed even more heavily on his wife…

"Hey! Hey, Takeru! You back here?" called out the familiar voice of Kiriko.

"Yeah!" Takeru called out. "Just finished up getting the chairs. And man, let me tell you, I never knew lifting and setting down so many things in such a short timeframe could be so… so…"

He trailed off as Kiriko entered the backyard he'd been setting things up in.

She wasn't alone.

Trailing right behind her, all bandaged up and tired but still very much willing to keep on trudging along was none other than…

"Hey dad," Takashi said. "Mom around? Cause the three of us need to talk."

Takeru Komuro smiled sadly. "Yeah, she's around… let's go get her."

* * *

Kiriko had other things to do, but she decided to hold off on going and getting those things done. She wanted to be around for this.

That said, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't affected by the atmosphere between father and son here. Sheesh, and she thought things were tense back when she used to work alongside her husband, patrolling the cell block in the police station. At least the drunkards and thugs locked up there had been loud and rowdy and easy to deal with. But these two? Dead fucking quiet.

Honestly, she felt like retreating here, but dug deep and found that inner steel of hers that had guided her during her officer days and remained as resolute as possible as she and Takashi followed Takeru into the house nearby.

Said house was none other than the Komuro's home, located just several houses down from where her own was at. Takashi's mother, Iroha Komuro, was resting upstairs as of now. Takeru went to go fetch her, leaving her and Takashi here in the dining room to sit and wait.

Well, Takashi sat. As for her, Kiriko opted to stand up against the wall, specifically near the corner, as if trying to sink into the wall itself and become unnoticeable.

This was something she used to do back in the day too while on the job, conducting raids and the like. It might seem like something stupid, but it was amazing how many people tended to ignore the corners of the rooms that were nearest to them. Made it easy to sneak up on them and take them down.

But in this case, Kiriko intended to listen and nothing more. For she wanted answers just like Takashi did.

She knew she'd been evasive in her answers earlier with him, but not for the hell of it – she truly didn't know. What she and the others within this protected section of the neighborhood did know is that this barrier was indeed the handiwork of the Komuros, specifically Iroha.

However, that was all they knew. Kiriko didn't know how exactly this barrier was erected. She didn't know if the couple that she'd long considered her friends had some kind of secret sci-fi technology stashed somewhere or if the barrier was formed through some other method.

She'd asked here and there over the past several days, but the couple had remained quite resolute in not telling her anything more. Now that Takashi was here, though, she was hoping they'd open up a bit about things.

Takeru finally came back down with Iroha in tow… and not for the first time, Kiriko found herself shaking her head at the unfairness here.

There was no escaping age. Even though she was only barely in her 40s and still looked good, this was due to a combination of keeping to a strict training regimen and some liberal application of make-up to make her appear just a little bit younger than she truly was – not that she looked old without make-up.

However, despite being around the same age as her, Iroha still looked like a woman that was just barely in her late twenties and that was without the usage of any make-up at all. With soft and delicate facial features, long and silky black hair and a curvaceous figure that was outdone only slightly by that blond nurse, Iroha was quite a popular woman around these parts, even if her wardrobe tended to consist of simple cardigans and long skirts.

She was especially popular at Shintoko 3rd Elementary School, where she worked as a teacher, known to be an extremely kind and gentle woman to the children and a lively but elegant person amongst the staff.

But when it came to her son…

Kiriko inwardly winced as the woman locked eyes with said son, her expression colder than ice.

"Takashi," the woman greeted with a slight nod.

"Mom," Takashi greeted back, meeting her unreadable gaze with a glare, anger burning in those brown eyes of his – the color inherited from Iroha.

Iroha and Takeru entered the dining room and both of them paused at the foot of the large table. Iroha continued her stare-off with her son while the latter looked back and forth between the two, appropriately off-put by the tension here.

"We need to talk," Takashi said. "Now."

"Wouldn't it be best for you to rest up first?" Iroha replied, motioning to the bandages all over him.

"That can wait." Takashi then sighed. "You know, it's been a hell of time for me and my friends so far. So many close calls, so fucking many… but we pulled through it all, amazingly enough. Even killed one of those damned monsters myself finally."

"All the more reason to rest then," Iroha stated, her posture one of authority. And despite being noticeably shorter than her husband by a solid seven inches, there was no mistaking she truly was the one in a position of power here, if the way the husband shirked back a bit was any indication.

But her son refused to obey. "No. Fuck rest!" Takashi answered hotly, now standing. "What I need right now are some damn answers! All this time, my friends and I have in the dark, just like I'm sure everyone else had been… but now I come to after passing out and lo and behold, there's a damn barrier protecting a solid half of the neighborhood!"

"Takashi…" Takeru called out quietly but firmly. "Settle down."

Takashi ignored his father. "I'm getting real fucking tired of not knowing anything about anything! You had something to do with this barrier, right? Well, I want to know what's up with that! Along with anything else you may know!"

For once, Iroha's cold façade broke ever slightly, an eye twitching as she stood there and listened to her son's little tirade. "You don't need to know anything," she said.

"Like hell!" Takashi was practically seething now.

Kiriko was both amazed and worried by this sight. She'd known for a long time, ever since Takashi and Rei first became friends, that things weren't all that good between the teen and his parents… but never had she expected their relationship to be so bad for Iroha to be looking at her own child this coldly or for Takashi to be this angry.

Even when accounting for emotional everyone was thanks to this apocalypse… what she was seeing here was honestly unnerving.

"I know you think I'm some pathetic child-," Takashi began. Iroha twitched. "But I'll have you know I'm not as stupid as you think I am, mom! Kiriko walked me through this whole place on the way here – I saw the others moving around, getting their little tasks done. It's great to see them all moving around so efficiently, but it was clearly unnatural – especially when most of those supplies are ours!"

Takashi circled around the table and slowly approached his parents. Takeru made to move in front of his wife, but Iroha gently waved him off and he most reluctantly backed down.

"I never really questioned why we had so much extra shit while I was growing up but seeing how handy it's all turning out to be during this 'time of crisis' or whatever you want to call it, I'm beginning to think you knew this was coming." Takashi pointed an accusing finger at his mom. "And before you respond it was all for an earthquake or tsunami or whatever, don't lie, mom – I know what's exactly needed for those emergencies and a lot of that stuff doesn't count. And the neighbors and other survivors that were rescued up until now… they're all shuffling around on your requests, right? You're clearly preparing them for something and it sure as hell isn't for some natural disaster. So out with it, mom! What's going on here?!"

"Takashi…" Kiriko muttered, again amazed by just how much anger the teen seemed to have towards his own parents. The boy she'd known since he was just a kid was boiling with so much anger that he didn't seem to notice the fingers of his clenched left hand digging into the wounds he had there, causing blood to slowly color the bandages over them.

"…I will admit, yes, there's more going on here than you realize," Iroha began after a moment, the woman having needed that brief time to take a deep breath, an action that had nearly caused the buttons of her cardigan to burst off.

"And?!" Takashi vehemently demanded she continued.

"…But I can't tell you," Iroha then declared in a firm voice.

Takashi looked like he'd been slapped in the face. Kiriko felt the same way too.

"Wha-? Why?!"

"Because!" Iroha began, finally raising her voice just a bit. She looked so ready to yell, only for her expression to then become most strained. It was a few seconds before she continued speaking, but not before calming herself.

"Because it's best if you don't know," she said quietly.

If he'd been irate before, then Takashi was absolutely livid now. He looked ready to throw a punch or a few dozen right now.

And regardless of her own feelings on the matter, Kiriko wasted no time stepping forward alongside Takeru to physically restrain the teen just in case he really did take a swing at his own mother.

The second she placed a hand against the teen's chest and tried to push him back though, Kiriko immediately felt a great deal of resistance. She couldn't help but be shocked – she never knew Takashi was this strong. She might as well be trying to push back a bear or something.

Takeru, who got behind Takashi and tried pulling him back that way grimaced in response to his son's strength but didn't look even remotely surprised.

Yet another thing the Komuros were keeping quiet about, she presumed.

"Takashi… settle down!" Takeru said sternly before finally succeeding in moving Takashi away from Iroha. "Please, son, just… just calm down. Head up to your room and rest. I'm sure a little sleep will help you out." He said this much more gently.

But as gentle as his tone was, it still clearly irritated Takashi. "I haven't slept well in fucking years, dad," he muttered bitterly, making Takeru wince.

Still, he appeared to listen and stomped upstairs to his room, slamming the door so loudly that Kiriko was sure the people outside jumped from the noise.

"…Well…" she began, not even close to sure on where to start now.

Takeru smiled at her awkwardly. "Sorry about all that, Kiriko. It's just…" Evidently unable to think of any way to explain what had just happened, he trailed off and looked away, his expression conflicted.

Kiriko could only sigh. "Whatever," she mumbled.

She'd stuck around hoping to get some helpful info, ended up bearing witness to hands down the most strained parent/child relationships she's ever seen. What a turn of events.

"I'll take my leave," she stated, now feeling eager to get back to her other self-imposed tasks… but not before pausing by Iroha on her way out. "Iroha, whatever the hell's going on here, I pray you know what you're doing."

"I know," the woman said softly. "I'll try not to disappoint you or the othe-."

"I meant in regards to your son." Kiriko cut her off, taking some small delight in the way Iroha's mouth suddenly closed shut. "I don't know what's gone down between you and Takashi, but no child deserves to be treated that coldly by their own mother."

Iroha flinched.

"…I'm not trying to judge you or anything – no matter how much I as a mother want to – but seriously, if only for your own sake, try to get your shit together."

And it was on that note that Kiriko excused herself from the Komuros' home.

The bitterness she felt over this entire situation greatly exceeded the small sense of triumph she felt just now over her words to Iroha.

She clicked her teeth.

Yeah, this definitely wasn't how she imagined things goings.

* * *

It was a few minutes before Iroha could finally bring herself to move, having chosen to stand there like a statue after Kiriko's final words to her.

With only her dear husband around, she finally let down her guard to reveal her true emotions, her expression heartbroken, eyes starting to water.

"Iroha…" Takeru muttered. He walked up to her just as her knees felt like they were buckling and embraced her. "Honey, it's alright…"

"It's not," she gasped out. "Not even close."

Tears started to slowly flow from her eyes, the image of strength she'd been projecting now gone. Contrary to the image she gave off just moments ago, she was not a stern woman nor a mean one. And no matter how many times she's done so up until now, it always took a genuine effort on her part to portray herself a such, that being the exact opposite of her true self.

But now with only her dear Takeru around, she could be her true self once more – a gentle and kind woman that was pushed to the brink.

Takeru's gentle hugging of her became firmer as more tears threatened to spill forth. He rested his chin atop her head and remained silent while her façade crumbled.

"How much longer?" he asked softly.

"I… I don't know," she answered slowly. "Could be hours or days or even weeks – it has no true sense of time, after all, so it doesn't feel a need to rush."

At that, Takeru grimaced. "I see." He paused. "Honey, I know this is weighing heavily on you, but please stop. You're blaming yourself for something that's not your fault."

"But it is!" She whispered the words harshly, but said harshness was aimed at herself and not her husband. "I…I'd gotten so used to things being a certain way that I didn't prepare for the opposite outcome. And now… now the end is near and there won't be any stopping it."

Takeru sighed. "Iroha," he began. "For the umpteenth time, it's not your fault. After everything you've told me back then, there's no way it can possibly be your fault."

"But…"

"But nothing," Takeru said sternly. Unlike her, he could be stern when need be without much effort, especially whenever he felt it was needed to get a point across, such as now. "If not even thinking of an alternative is your fault, then the same would have to be said for all the others too and I know you don't blame them for anything. So you shouldn't blame yourself either."

"But the Demon…" she began. "Dear, it's coming and when it succeeds, all of us will… you will…"

His grip on her tightened even more, as if holding onto her for dear life. "Then at least we'll be together at the end. I bet a lot of people wished they could have said the same in the case of this apocalypse. I at least have the honor of still being by my beloved's side to the very last moment."

Despite herself, Iroha giggled, albeit bitterly. But even so, her husband's words did help alleviate her worsening mood a bit. "Still as overdramatic a smooth talker as always…" she said.

"Hey, you know that's one of the reasons why you married me," he said jokingly. "I make you feel you good – both in and outside the bedroom." He waggled his eyebrows a bit at that.

This time, Iroha genuinely laughed and gave her husband a light slap on the shoulder as she broke out of his embrace. Yes, that did help pull her out of her depression a fair bit.

But even so… the woman's anxiety still ate away at her from the inside.

She'd meant what she said just now, just as much as she'd meant it when she first told her husband everything back then, before they were even married.

The Demon was coming. She could feel it within the very depths of her soul. It was coming and once it was here, there'd be no stopping it. Life as she and everyone else defined it would cease to be, becoming a nightmarish parody and mockery of what it once was.

This was something she'd seen coming for a long time – ever since Takashi was born. She'd dreaded it. She'd tried to run from it in her own little way. But no matter her efforts, it'd inevitably arrive.

At least now, as her husband just pointed out, it would be by his side and him by her side.

Her burden feeling microscopically lifted, she tried to stand and take just a few steps back – only to nearly fall yet again.

Takeru was quick to react, grabbing hold of her and helping her steady herself.

"You alright?" he asked.

Her seeming inability to walk as of this moment wasn't due to overwhelming emotion, but rather strain.

"I'm okay," she replied gently. "It's just the barrier… it's the first time I've had to keep it up this long."

"You should head back upstairs and continue to rest then," Takeru said.

But Iroha shook her head. "Not yet. I want to see with my own eyes how everyone else is doing. Even with how things will eventually end up, I owe them at least this much. I need to see that they're still holding up."

"…Alright." Takeru sighed, but then smiled. "Let me guess, you'll need me to practically half-carry you at some point during your little tour out there?"

Iroha smiled almost playfully. "Maybe."

"Alright then. Sheesh, I know I just said I make you feel good and all, but sometimes it feels like I'm too accommodating with you," he said. He pretended to be annoyed by this. "I think you'll owe me something later as payment, missy," he said in an overly dramatic fashion.

"Oh dear, whatever could that payment be?" Iroha decided to play along, her small smile now a little coy.

"Undo a button or two on your cardigan later and I'll show exactly what I have in mind," Takeru said with a growing grin.

He then laughed a little and Iroha shared in it, feeling much better than she had just a minute ago. She looked at her husband with eyes full of love of gratitude.

Usually, her side of the family had a hard time finding others that could not only understand what was going on but accept them anyways.

Takeru had actually been her first ever boyfriend back then during high school. Now look at her and him now, married and with their relationship still going strong despite him knowing things that most others would've shunned her for.

She truly was a lucky woman.

But even so, this still did nothing to change their current reality.

Despite this, she tried to dig deep and find within herself some glimmer of hope as she and her husband walked outside to check on the others.

And so as she began her self-imposed duty of seeing to everyone else's well-being, Iroha did her best to try and see the upside to things…

All the while, feeling once more a sense of guilt in the back of her mind over her treatment of her own son.

Takashi…

If at all possible, perhaps at the very end of it all, she'll try coming clean with him.

* * *

Takashi waited exactly where he was, unwilling to budge even an inch out of sheer paranoia over being caught.

Contrary to what his parents and Kiriko had likely thought, he hadn't gone to his room to rest. Rather, he'd pretended he had.

On the off chance that they'd start talking once they thought he was out of sight and earshot, Takashi had opened and slammed the door to his room before swiftly rounding the corner as silently as he could.

And when he heard his parents start to quietly talk, he'd done his best to get as close to the foot of the stairs as was possible to hear them even better.

To both his surprise and relief, he'd gone unnoticed even when one of the steps had nearly creaked – damn thing, he thought his dad had fixed it months ago – and as a result he'd been able to listen in on a lot of what his parents had spoken of between themselves.

But he was ultimately left with just more questions than answers.

The only things that he'd gleamed from this was that his mom did indeed make that barrier somehow, if the way she'd briefly mentioned the strain was anything to go by.

But what had truly caught his attention was what she and his dad had said briefly about the end being near.

Just what in the fuck did they mean by that? Just how much did they truly know about this entire apocalypse?

But even more importantly…

Just what in the hell did they mean by the Demon?

* * *

 **Dun dun dun!**

 **Not an action-packed chapter, but a very important one nonetheless! As you can already tell, Takashi's parents know a hell of a lot more than they're letting on. And what they have to say will be rather jaw-dropping in my own opinion.**

 **Hope you guys will enjoy the revelations that will soon be taking place!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	16. Chapter 16

**TheDarkHollow** , thank you very much for your kind words. But I can say with an odd sort of confidence that my novel was pretty amateurish. I never realized until recently just how rough of a story it was.

That isn't to say it was badly written or anything as far as grammar and sentence structure goes, but my main problem upon reflecting on it was that I was far too eager to just march forward towards the main plot and conflict with little true build-up or proper explanations about how the setting, based on the real world, differed from said real world. Not to mention that I'm sure what little research I'd done about certain things were quite wrong, even if my initially planned plot explained it all away as a parallel world.

But now though, things will be different. For sure I will be rebooting the novel and while that is a shame considering just how damn much I wrote for this now discontinued one, it feels genuinely good to say that now since I have a much better idea of how I want to do things. So I suppose you could consider the discontinued one to be something of a rough draft.

However, there's still much to be done before I can actually start working on the reboot. The MC may be fairly unchanged overall along with his family, but some other characters need to be revamped considerably and new characters relevant to the plot need to be constructed too. Also, said plot is still vague beyond the end goal, so that really needs to be fleshed out before I start writing it. But I have the setting already revamped significantly in my mind, just a matter of a few other key details that I need to think up, so that's a plus right now.

It'll likely be a long while until this reboot is over and done with, but I'm a patient guy and hopefully the lessons I learned from all this will help make the reboot that much more entertaining for readers.

For now, though, until I get a good enough grasp on how I want it to be exactly, I will be focusing on this fic so that means this fic will continue to be updated at a regular pace as long as life doesn't throw any crazy curveballs at me.

Wish me luck guys! And also, I do hope you all will enjoy the next few chapters – they will be quite a surprise, if I do say so myself!

P.S. to **X59** , I'm glad you're finding it fascinating so far! Hope this chapter and future ones continue to impress! Also, the impression Iroha has painted for you thus far is intentional – there's definitely a few surprises involving her coming up and I'm now most eager to see if your opinion about her will change somewhat.

P.P.S. to **flo463** , whoa really? I knew dubbing can botch things up sometimes, but wow! I can see what you mean about the humor involved in those translations, ha ha. And very interesting, I didn't even know about that fic. Will have to check it out later if I get a chance to!

Chapter 16

The wickerman-esque monster hummed, feeling most perplexed.

Night had finally fallen after a very long day and things have seemed to settle down a bit.

Thanks to its brethren, who'd earlier today pretty much wiped out the entire city, the monster had lost track of the group it had been tracking thus far, but after finally managing to utilize the pitch black darkness provided by the piles of rubble all around, it'd been able to discreetly search around until it had spotted said group of interest be rescued by another group of humans, but not before that boy had managed to vanquish the 'dog' several moments before even that.

After that had occurred, the monster had tried to follow as best as it could but ran out of rubble in which it could travel to and had to wait until the sun had started to set to proceed forth.

By the time it had caught up with the group, night had fully fallen and the monster, still in its fog form, was most surprised by what it had discovered.

To think that several human homes would be protected by a barrier of sorts.

It honestly stumped the monster, leaving it to dwell in a state of impasse off in the distance.

The barrier, a glowing white in color, certainly stood out and it had been quick to attract the attention of several other monsters that had wasted no time getting close to it. But despite their best efforts, the barrier remained strong and so the monster could only watch its brethren make a reluctant retreat upon seeing their efforts so utterly wasted, some humans that had been outside their homes watching this occur and cheering.

This had drawn some nearby zombies to their location and the undead too had proven incapable of doing anything to the barrier. But the humans on the other side certainly didn't have issue with doing what they wanted, with some running up with large knifes to stab the zombies directly through the heads, killing them with ease as the weapons slipped through the barrier without issue to stab the undead in the first place.

Truly, a most interesting sight, but also an irksome one as well.

It went without saying that it'd be incapable of getting through the barrier too, meaning it couldn't get to any of those humans inside, especially the ones that had so greatly captured its interest recently.

But taking a moment to reflect on things, perhaps this was a blessing in disguise. It was still wounded from that flashbang, though not by much. By the end of this night, it should be back to full strength. And until the following night, it could hang back and continue to observe the barrier, perhaps spot an opening that could be exploited.

And should that prove impossible, well, the monster shouldn't fret too much.

The Demon was approaching.

It was still quite far away, dozens upon dozens of miles away from here, and its physical form, whenever it manifested in this world, never ran only walked… but even so, every time the Demon's physical form disappeared and reappeared, it would always cover significant distances, so it'd perhaps only be a few more days before it arrives here.

And when that happens….

…Well, honestly, the monster had no idea what would happen. The Demon's motives were unclear, but the monster couldn't imagine its goals being anything too crazy for some reason.

In any case, the Demon should hopefully be amicable enough as to help it break past this barrier… and settle the score with that teen and his group. Its interest in the group and especially the boy aside, it didn't quite like the fact they'd been the ones to get away from it.

Call it pride or something else, but the monster would very much like a 'rematch' with this lot. Surely, doing so would help heighten their negative emotions even more… and make them all that more delectable a meal.

Feeling a sense of anticipation now well up within it, the monster began to retreat, eagerly awaiting how the next day or two would turn out.

* * *

Saeko stared up at the ceiling, feeling an odd sense of defeat and elation at the exact same time.

She'd woken up from her state of unconsciousness roughly half an hour ago and after being told by Hayashi-sensei how the others were doing, the swordswoman had merely nodded before lying back down to simply reflect on her own thoughts.

What a day it had been. To see the entire city just be destroyed like that and to have her own weapon reduced to nearly nothing in the process, never mind the injuries she'd sustained too… it boggled the mind to think of this, including just how powerless she'd come to feel in the process, hence her sense of defeat.

But on the flip side, she was still alive as were the others… except for Zeke. Oh, that poor but brave dog.

Shoving aside her feelings of sadness over Zeke's untimely passing, however, Saeko found some solace in how things had ultimately turned out. To not just her amazement, but to the amazement of the others too, Komuro-kun had fought tooth and nail against that 'dog' for their sakes… and with just a tad bit of help from Hirano-kun and herself, had succeeded in killing a monster that had survived so much up until that point.

It was honestly hard not to feel stunned as she recalled that entire fight. Komuro-kun truly was a warrior, if only in spirit considering his lack of formal training. And the sheer vigor he'd fought with, the unbridled fury he'd exhibited with each action he'd made especially at the end…

Despite her current state, Saeko could feel herself growing quite hot, particularly down there, causing her to blush.

Really now, what a time to be alive, considering just how turbulent her own emotions were right now.

She'll just chalk this up to the apocalypse and leave it at that.

In an attempt to distract herself from her current predicament, she tried to turn on her side to look at the others, all of whom were still asleep due to a combination of pure exhaustion and their wounds. Hirano-kun was the one that was the deepest asleep naturally, given his own injuries. He'll never walk again, but Saeko couldn't picture that slowing the teen down that much for some reason, which brought a small smile to her face.

Truly, she could say she was blessed to be a part of this group. As rag-tag as they may be, they certainly weren't lacking in grit.

"You okay?" asked Hayashi-sensei softly after having seen her shift about.

"I'm fine. Merely wished to move a bit – felt myself getting stiff," Saeko explained, gently waving away the teacher's concern.

"I'd offer you a massage to ease up the stiffness, but… well, not quite good at that," the teacher said sheepishly.

Saeko chuckled lightly. "Not a problem. How are you doing too?"

Hayashi-sensei shot her an exhausted smile. "About as well as you, I suppose. Being the least wounded alongside Shizuka here, I'd helped as best as I could with medical aid… never knew it could be so draining to do, though."

"Heh heh~ Guess you found out how tough my own job could."

To Saeko's surprise, Shizuka, who'd been asleep nearby, now woke up, having slurred out those words rather playfully.

But as casually as those words had been uttered, there was no mistaking the haunted look in the buxom nurse's eyes.

She must have been terrified one of them would die if they didn't get proper treatment in time. Truly, she was a person deserving of being a nurse, to clearly care so much for their well-being despite her own injuries being nothing to just laugh off.

"Shizuka…" Hayashi-sensei began, looking just as surprised at seeing the buxom nurse up. "…How are you holding up?"

"I'm okay," Shizuka muttered. But her expression said otherwise. "It's just…" She trailed off and looked to Saeko, or rather the bandaged parts of her body before looking away and at the others, who all looked like mummies what with all the gauze and cotton balls applied.

"You did what you could," Saeko said, realizing what the nurse must be thinking. "Seriously, if not for your expertise, I'm certain all of us would still be up and in great pain right now."

Shizuka shot her a small smile filled with gratitude… but the swordswoman could see it wasn't quite enough to fully lift the woman's dour mood.

Shizuka then sported a confused expression. "Where's Rei-chan? And Komuro-kun too?"

"Ah, Miyamoto-san was taken to her own home to rest up by her mother." Hayashi-sensei was the one to answer. "As for Komuro-kun, well, he went to go meet his parents from what I recall overhearing. But, well, he didn't seem all too pleased to do so. In fact, he seemed quite grim and angry."

Shizuka looked more than a little surprised and confused by that.

But Saeko didn't really share the nurse's response on that front. Instead, she narrowed her eyes, thinking long and hard now about the boy that had come to captivate her attention so much in so short a time.

The few times the matter of his family had been brought up, Komuro-kun hadn't exactly looked eager to discuss them all that much. And during their meeting at that other place in the morning – God, but this morning felt so ridiculously long ago that it was absurd – he'd pretty said he was in no hurry to head home.

Yet now, it seemed like he didn't have as much of a problem approaching them if given the chance to do so. It clearly couldn't be because of some repressed happy emotions or anything like that, especially not after having nearly been killed by that 'dog' monster. And given the grievous wounds he'd sustained, Saeko would've imagined he'd be more eager to rest up than meet with his parents.

So for him to apparently be so keen on tracking them down and to be so angry about it too… just what exactly was going on between him and his family? What could possibly have him so worked that he had prioritized meeting them over resting up?

"What happened afterwards?" Saeko asked the brunette teacher.

Hayashi-sensei shook her head. "I don't know. No one does except for Kiriko-san… but she wasn't willing to talk about it when some people asked her. All I do know is that a door was slammed _very_ hard earlier and it was apparently within Komuro-kun's home."

Now Saeko let her confusion show. Really now, just what could have gone on to have resulted in that? Doors don't get slammed unless someone got angry, most likely Komuro-kun in this case, which brings up the question of what could have stoked his anger to that point.

"And Komuro-kun hasn't been seen since then?" she asked.

The teacher shook her head. "If he's been out and about since then, I haven't heard anything about it."

Nearby, Shizuka grimaced. "I hope he's okay; he was hurt really bad, so he shouldn't be up and about just yet…"

"I'm sure he has some idea as to what he's doing," Saeko said. But as of right now, she had a hard time believing that.

But by God, she prayed that the boy knew what he was doing.

* * *

Takashi had no idea what he was doing. Not one bit.

Following what he'd overheard from his parents' conversation, he'd then silently retreated into his room and stayed there the entire time, simply lying on his bed for the most part. Not even when his parents had eventually returned from their brief walk around outside did he budge, though he had felt tempted to when he heard them stop for a brief second just outside his door.

But he'd kept himself from getting up when that had happened. He wasn't in a mood to talk to them anymore right now. He was still far too fucking angry and he doubted his mom would tell him what he wanted to know even if he brought up what he'd overheard. Hell, she'll likely clam up even more!

"Tch…"

Better to just wait until tomorrow then, when he was feeling calmer. As it is, his fatigue was returning to him, greater than ever before and it was a genuinely herculean feat that he was even still awake right now considering his wounds.

Sighing, he finally admitted self-defeat. Trying to force himself to stay awake like this any longer wasn't doing him any good, even if his anger was still brewing readily.

Even if a proper sleep had long since been a hard thing for him to do, he decided there was no better time than now to see if he could manage to get at least a few hours of decent sleep now. After all that fighting he did against the 'dog' and the wounds sustained, Takashi was feeling certain that maybe this time around he'll be spared any of those odd nightmares.

And so it was with lessening reluctance that he decided to close his eyes as he rolled onto his side.

Not even ten seconds later, he was out like a light.

…

…

 **!(J(IJ*(JFIWJ*UOL:K?KO)!JI(J(IPJIJFIFJ(RU_ ()JIOFIO:J* THI(JGONGJOWHGIHIUGHIUOGHIJNJ)(IUR)(UT)JGUPNWIUPGNW(GH_ *GTH_IWGJOIPJGI(HGIJ:GKLWM:GLMIOGIWJGT IGJW(TNWGIJU (* *U W*(GH U(WGUH UG H*GH (*WG H*(WH G* *G G *H G**GH*G*JG)IJ()#I_T(_J*_U*H & H&*T^*&HIJFOIWGJOIWPHG*TH(**

…

…

…

…

…

 _ **LET ME IN**_

* * *

Back in their room, Iroha rested. Or at least, tried to but couldn't.

After heading outside to check on the others, she'd headed straight back home in order to lie back in bed just as she'd promised her dear husband that she'd do. Sadly, she'd been feeling too tired to give him the 'reward' he'd playfully requested earlier, making her feel quite bad since Takeru always did so much for her. But he'd been more than understanding like always and had simply let her rest while he opted to sleep.

Iroha wished she could join her husband in said sleep, but she was feeling her own nerves fray despite feeling physically exhausted. One would think maintaining the barrier's existence would eventually put enough of a strain on her to knock her out, but here she was, still going strong when she so desperately wished otherwise.

Sighing quietly, she sat up in bed and reached to the side, where a nightstand was at. Pulling open the top drawer and digging through the stuff there until she got to the bottom of said drawer, she withdrew a small box.

It was well-maintained, but signs of age could still be seen on it. To be expected considering it was a solid 14 years old. It was a plain black box, but there were some stickers here and there, stickers of old anime heroes and monsters that Takashi had put on it when he was just a young boy.

Not for the first time, merely touching and looking at the box filled Iroha with a great deal of emotional pain. This was a box she'd bought for her son to put drawings in for safe-keeping back then, one of the very few motherly things she'd allowed herself to do long ago.

But ever since that time, she's confiscated it from Takashi and had held onto it all these years, having known instinctively back then, if only in part, how things would eventually turn out.

Placing it gently on her lap, Iroha opened the box and took out all the drawings within – just a bit more than 50 in total, all folded nice and neatly and preserved as best as possible.

She'd long since memorized every single detail in each drawing, but always found herself coming back to this box to look at them time and time again, as if trying to confirm each time that, yes, what she was seeing was really there.

Back then, Takashi had been a kid like any other, running around with other kids and playing, often being the one to lead Rei and a few others on little fun-filled adventures, her son just naturally falling into the role of leader even back then with a level of energy and determination that left her feeling so proud even if she could never bring herself to say let alone act on such pride.

And also like any other kid, Takashi liked to draw back then, usually his favorite heroes from those animes at the time.

But he stopped drawing heroes when he started experiencing intense nightmares. After which, she and Takeru taught him to draw the 'scary things' out as a way to deal with the nightmares. It helped to some extent and eventually the nightmares ceased or at least became less intense enough for him to no longer comment on them. Iroha doubted her son even remembered the nightmares from back then anymore.

But she sure did. Especially when she looked at the drawings.

Such as the very first one that she unfolded. Her son may not have been the second coming of Van Gogh, but he was able to draw well enough for a child at the time.

Well enough for her to clearly make out the large, muscular and pitch-black body of the creature he'd drawn. Well enough for her to be able to tell that the 'head' was nothing more than mass of sharp teeth with a scary long tongue. Well enough for her to see the dog-like influence in the shape of its body overall.

Not to mention in the simple name Takashi had given it back then – _'Doggy.'_

The next drawing was one of a large humanoid, seemingly composed entirely of flames, if the faded colors of the yellow and orange and red crayons was anything to go by, complete with multiple eyes. A simplistic house had been drawn near the creature, showcasing just how much bigger it was.

It was titled _'the fire man.'_

The third drawing was that of something akin to a tree, if one had limbs. The colors used certainly made it look like an ordinary tree…. But there were also some colors there typically associated with drawings of humans and the muscles and sinew under the skin.

' _The Man-Tree'_ her son had titled this one back then.

And on and on it went.

Before, looking at these drawings always filled her with dread, but now it just flat out terrified her. For this apocalypse had confirmed a suspicion she's held for years and it terrified her, more than anything ever had before.

Feeling ready to have a mental meltdown as she went through each drawing, Iroha wasted no time in putting them away back in the drawer and got up, her restlessness now reaching the point where she had to move around despite her physical exhaustion.

She didn't dare pace around the room lest she accidentally wake up her husband so she exited the bedroom as quietly as possible, deciding to head downstairs and pace there instead.

However, she couldn't help but pause just as she was about to pass her son's room on the way to the stairs.

She bit her lip, wrestling with her own ever-conflicted emotions.

Her true feelings won out quickly enough though and she decided to quietly open the door to her son's room just a bit, just enough for her to peak her head inside.

And sure enough, there Takashi was on his bed, dead asleep.

"Oh, my poor boy…" Iroha whispered feeling her eyes water. How she wished she could have done things differently. But instead, she had allowed her fears to get the best of her and before she knew it, she'd put up a cold and distant façade whenever she interacted with her son that had become far too frighteningly natural for her to slip into when Takashi so much as even glanced at her.

God, how stupid and pathetic she is. Just what kind of mother does that to her own child? It wasn't as if Takashi had had a choice in anything…

The strain of everything that had been set in motion ever since his birth was catching up to her and seeing her son, finally resting peacefully for the first time in a very long time whilst covered in wounds, proved to be nearly too much for her heart to bear.

She began to back out, closing the door behind her as slowly and quietly as she could – only to stop immediately after doing so.

If she was right about her son and the Demon…

She let out a soundless gasp, shock and terror consuming her so much that Iroha even seemed to forget to breath.

She'd suspected for a long while what may occur when the Demon finally figured out a temporary way to enter this plane of existence, but she'd been so caught up in preparing what little physical defensive measures she could that she ended up neglecting something far more important:

How was the Demon pinpointing her son?

The answer was obvious now – when Takashi slept.

Waking him up now would do no good though – for she could literally _feel_ an all-consuming gaze upon not just her but the entirety of the neighborhood and the city that had once existed earlier today.

No longer paying attention to how much noise she was making, Iroha clumsily rushed down the stairs and headed outside as quickly as possible to reinforce the barrier.

The Demon was coming.

* * *

Now that it was here in this country called Japan, feeling its target – the boy – had become much easier now. Perhaps not quite as easily as it would've preferred, but easy enough nonetheless now that the distance between them was lessening.

If its current physical form had a mouth, the Demon may have smiled right now.

It could feel its temporary form beginning to slowly break apart. In a span of perhaps five minutes, it would cease to be entirely and it would have to reconstruct its avatar yet again.

But time had never been of the essence, especially not when all its potential targets back then had been granted its protection upon its initial arrival into this lower world. That's why it had never rushed, always walking whenever it had formed.

However, now it was feeling an emotion that it came to learn was called 'eagerness.'

And so, the Demon then chose to act on it.

Judging by the now active connection between it and the boy, there was approximately a distance of a hundred and thirteen miles. From what little it has come to learn of humans thus far, an athletic one could probably cover that distance in several days of walking, likely even a week depending on circumstances. And should its physical form remain intact that long, the Demon would be able to cover that distance in just slightly less time.

But the Demon had no interest in walking anymore.

It kicked off the ground and flew just a few feet above the asphalt, directly forward, heading for its target.

It smashed through hills and even mountains, buildings ranging from small houses to ones comparable to skyscrapers in size. Absolutely none of this slowed it down one bit.

It reached its general destination in under a hundredth of a _nanosecond._ Its speed had been so great that even something such as the speed of light could be effortlessly achieved and surpassed, the very nature of its existence mocking the laws of physics in this plane of existence.

But the Demon hadn't quite crossed the entire distance exactly – it had stopped just several feet short of the housing it sensed its target dwelling in.

Or rather, it had stopped just several feet of the barrier that was protecting said dwelling along with several other houses near it.

The Demon allowed itself the briefest sensation of surprise to flit through it. Just what was this now?

It stepped forward until it was practically touching the barrier. It reached out a hand and pressed against the barrier. it couldn't get through… how interesting. Not only that, but when it then occurred to the Demon to teleport itself inside the barrier, it found itself unable to do so, the teleportation interfered with.

The barrier was doing something to it…

The Demon backed a step or two away, genuinely befuddled, but far from annoyed. Given just how little power this restricted form of its had, it wasn't entirely out of the question for something to exist capable of halting it, but coming across such a thing was still a novel experience.

Speaking of which…

There, on the other side of the barrier was a woman. The Demon recognized her, not necessarily by name or anything of a sort, but by something else.

She was like the others it had encountered up until now. It went without saying that she was the one who'd made this barrier.

But the woman was clearly tired, sweat dripping down the side of her face. The barrier, as tough as it was, was evidently tied to the woman's stamina. She could only keep it up for so long.

In which case…

The Demon raised a fist and reared it back slowly. The woman flinched as it did so and the Demon sensed her strengthen the barrier even more in preparation for what was to come.

Would said reinforcement be enough to fully withstand it, though?

Only one way to find out.

The Demon threw a punch and the entire world seemed to just disappear in a flash of light.

* * *

Takashi awoke instantly thanks to a combination of factors. Factor number one being that he'd once again been experiencing… something. He couldn't recall for the life of him what it was, but when he'd been asleep just now, it felt like something was calling out to him and was dragged somewhere unfathomable.

He remembered nothing save for a terrible sensation of falling endlessly before the feeling proved too much to continue handling and he began to awaken.

That was when factor number two kicked in, a massive force striking something nearby with enough power to make it feel as if the entire world was breaking apart.

And then factor number three…. A scream. A woman's scream.

His mom's scream.

He was once again pretty much running on adrenaline, his fatigue evaporating like nothing in the face of whatever the fuck was going on now.

Wasting not even a second, he all but leapt off his bed albeit clumsily and nearly smashed his door off the hinges.

"Iroha?!" he could hear his dad call out in shock and worry. He even heard his dad run out of the room to go looking too.

But Takashi wasn't intent on waiting up for him or anyone else, all of whom he could now hear were awake and rushing outside too, sounding like a fucking stampede in the process.

He exited his house and dashed across the front lawn, only vaguely aware of others nearby doing the same thing-.

Only to come to a dead stop upon seeing what the cause of the commotion was.

There near the barrier was his mom, collapsing onto the asphalt, her breath labored and her body shuddering. She struggled just to keep from fully falling onto the asphalt, but her arms were shaking so badly that it was a miracle she hadn't fallen completely yet.

But his mom only barely was worth noting to him.

For his attention lied on what was on the other side of the barrier, the outside of it.

There, something humanoid yet so far from human that it wasn't even funny. As far as appearances went, there was plenty about it that could be described but Takashi couldn't even bring himself to do that much, if only for his own sake.

He could only stare, entranced to the point of nearly forgetting to breath, his own heart feeling like it wasn't even beating anymore from how much of a shock to his system he was getting right now.

Somehow, he knew what that thing was despite having never seen it before.

There was a connection there, between him and it, he could tell.

But what?

Regardless of the answer though… that thing was wrong. So terribly wrong despite its current appearance not being too unearthly. It wasn't something meant to exist within the confines of reality.

Takashi felt his own vision begin to blur as the thing – the Demon, he just knew that's what it was – then turned and looked his way, whatever passed for its eyes peering into his own.

Vertigo hit him like a raging storm dialed up to eleven. He literally froze in place, to the point where even his own mind seemed to come to a sudden stop.

The Demon had punched the barrier, that much had been obvious, and now it reached out a hand to the _cracked_ barrier and started to wriggle its fingers into the crack, meaning to tear it apart, meaning to get to _him_ …

Only for the Demon's own form to start cracking and breaking apart.

The Demon paused in its actions and tilted its head in what looked like mild confusion before its eyes narrowed a bit in understanding. It lowered its hand and took a step back, accepting its own form disappearing into absolute nothingness.

But not once did its stare deviate from Takashi.

It wasn't until after the Demon's form fully disappeared that Takashi ended up taking the biggest gasp of air he's ever taken, his seemingly stilled heart finally remembering to beat again now that the danger had passed.

His knees buckled and he stumbled forward until he too collapsed, not unlike his mom.

All but keeling over now, having to place his shaking hands against the ground to keep himself up, he was only vaguely aware of the others practically panicking over what had just occurred, questions being yelled left and right over the absurdity just witnessed.

Not even when his dad briefly checked on him before rushing to his mom did Takashi bother paying attention.

"Just…?" he finally muttered after a moment, after his wits slowly began to return. "Just what in the hell was that?"

He looked up and stared at his mom, who'd been helped to her feet just now by his dad. He was just close enough to them that he knew his parents heard his question.

Even so, he asked again, this time far more seriously, far more angrily and desperate.

Whatever reasons she had before for not telling him what was going on pretty upped and died as of these past few moments. Whatever answers she could provide now needed to be said right the fuck now. He'd no longer accept any bullshit from her on this.

"Mom…" he all but growled out as he slowly found the strength to stand anymore, not caring that others were now watching him and her after hearing the animosity in his voice.

"Time to start spilling the beans. Just what the fuck was that thing?"

Looks like this day wasn't quite over just yet. No, if anything, only now did it feel like it was truly beginning for them all.

* * *

 **A short chapter, I know, but with reason as I'm sure you all can tell. Heh, bet you weren't expecting the Demon to enter the picture like that so soon, eh? But don't worry, things are far from over just yet. There's still a fair bit left before the endgame.**

 **Now regarding the Demon and the barrier, the specifics will be explained next chapter, but let me just say right now it could have destroyed the barrier in one go if it really wanted to, but the amount power it would've needed to do so would have potentially killed everyone inside the barrier, regardless of any other factors, its protection included. So it had to hold back a bit, especially since it's hard for it to gauge how much strength is truly necessary to perform certain things, at least in terms of precision.**

 **Just wanted to say that before any of you begin to worry about the Demon suddenly being nerfed or something, because it's definitely not being nerfed at all, at least not in any way you may think of.**

 **Up next will be the answers to most of the questions I know you guys have been asking and I hope it'll prove to be quite a surprise when the next chapter is up, which again shouldn't take too long since I'll be focusing on this fic until I sort out the issues with rebooting my novel.**

 **Whelp, not too much else that needs to be addressed I think, but if there is something I missed, don't hesitate to mention it in your reviews or PM me.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	17. Chapter 17

Glad you liked the last chapter so much, you guys! And as stated in the previous AN, this chapter will be providing answers to a lot of questions, some of which should be quite obvious, as you've pointed out, **Joker wx.**

And to **X59** , yeah, the lack of grief on the reader's part for Zeke's death is kinda/sorta intentional unless you're a dog lover. As much as I'm amused by dogs too, I felt Zeke never really had too much of a role in the canon story and I decided to carry that over in this fic too since he ultimately wasn't going to have much of a role in the endgame anyways, especially since, well, kind of hard to justify a dog being able to do much of anything in what craziness is to soon come.

 **Flo463** , wow, seriously?! Yeesh, the butchering continues indeed! You'd think after all this time with anime and games becoming more well-known in other countries, the subs would improve some more, ha ha. Oh, also read the first chapter to Wolves of the Death! It seems okay, but the way it sort of rushed through everything to get to the main meat of the story feels kind of 'meh' to me so far. But I'll check out the second chapter when I get a chance and see if the fic will really grab my interest.

And as always, thank you **TheDarkHollow** , I aim to make this rebooted story my magnum opus, if you don't mind me trying to sound grand, ha ha. My first published novel is without a doubt completely amateurish due to it having been my, well, first and not to mention it was primarily written during high school and college, when I was still learning a lot of different things. Combined with what I learned from writing that in addition to my discontinued one, I should hopefully be able to make this reboot one a definite masterpiece, at least by my standards.

Whelp, beyond that, not much more to say. Let's get to it!

Chapter 17

The wickerman monster, still in its fog form, stared long and hard at what had taken place nearly ten minutes ago.

Seeing the Demon relatively up close like that had certainly been a surprise, especially when it had struck that barrier so suddenly, but not an unpleasant one. That said, the monster can admit to being rather terrified of the Demon, its power far greater than anything it had ever expected.

A shame its physical form deteriorated before the barrier could be brought down, but it did wonders to scare the humans within the barrier, to the point that it could practically taste their terror from here.

However, following the disappearance of the Demon, the humans wasted no time going inside their homes and barricading themselves within as an extra but futile precaution. A pity, in a sense, but there wasn't really anything it could do about that… yet.

As usual, it had taken special note of that boy and the ones that appeared to be his parents, having watched them intently as the three of them entered a house that hadn't been the same one they had exited in the first place. They'd been followed by a woman that it didn't recognize, though the monster could note a vague resemblance between said unknown woman and one of those teenaged girls that was a part of the boy's group.

Interesting. As was now the usual for it, things just seemed to keep on getting more interesting.

But that only served to make it feel more impatient.

However, unlike before, perhaps there was something it could do about things now.

For the crack the Demon had made in the barrier remained.

Although long and jagged, the crack was still far too thin for anything to get through. Anything physical that is.

For it while in its current fog form?

…

The monster flew forth almost hesitantly, a dark sense of hope filling it.

It neared the crack and paused, as if to reconsider its options.

Deciding to simply go through with things, it dispersed its own fog form into individual particles and tried to push forth.

…

…

It could get through.

* * *

Kiriko folded her arms under her breasts as she got comfortable leaning against the nearest wall.

Following the sudden appearance and disappearance of that thing, everyone had naturally panicked like crazy, but she was able to calm them down a bit and tell them to head back inside and hole up somewhere safe until they were sure that new entity wasn't going to come back.

After that, she'd caught up with the Komuros as they were all but forcefully pulled by their son into this house, where his friends were resting up.

Takashi wanted those answers now and he evidently wanted his group to hear those answers too. So much so that he'd even gone and fetched Rei, who'd naturally woken up when that thing had struck the barrier nearly ten to fifteen minutes ago. Hell, she'd already been on her way here when Takashi had gone to get her, going to show how attached her daughter was to the others here.

And speaking of which, the others here were all very much awake now, for the same reason as her daughter despite how tired they all had been.

And so, she could only look on as Iroha and Takeru awkwardly sat on some chairs nearby while Takashi sat across from them on a sofa with his friends sitting up in the makeshift beds they'd been lying in this whole time.

All eyes were on the Komuros, everyone eerily quiet but it went without actually saying what they wanted to know:

Just what the fuck is going on.

"Spill it, mom," Takashi growled out. "And don't even think of leaving anything out!"

"…I'd rather only say it to you," Iroha said softly, weakly.

"No." Takashi glared. "My friends here went through hell to get here. They deserve answers too."

Kiriko watched as Iroha slowly looked to everyone there, herself included before nodding in resignation. "Dear, can you go and get the box, please?"

Takeru nodded and quietly left, this drawing some looks of confusion from the others there. Except from Saya, who simply stared with a blank expression. The girl had always been exceptionally smart and Kiriko could already see the gears in her mind working at top speed to figure things out before anything is even said.

"Where do you wish to start?" asked Iroha.

"For starters, just what the fuck is that thing? Why did it feel like it knew me?" Takashi began. "Why did it feel like I somehow knew it? And what about this fucking barrier, how did you even make this?"

Everyone briefly turned to Takashi in mild surprise, having not expected one or two of those questions to be uttered.

Kiriko did the same, her eyes narrowing in confusion and worry. That thing knew Takashi and vice versa? Just what did that mean?

Iroha sighed, which drew everyone's attention to her, the woman looking like she was steeling herself for this.

"That thing is what we call the Demon," Iroha began. "As for your other questions, well… perhaps it'd be better to tell you all a little story first."

"The Demon…?" Kiriko heard her daughter mumble. "Like, an actual demon?!"

Iroha shrugged helplessly. "I… I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. But that's the title or name that's been given to it by my people for a long time and it's stuck. Whatever it is, it's definitely not of this world at all."

Iroha trailed off, looking as if she was trying to figure out how exactly to tell this story she'd just mentioned a moment ago.

"Centuries ago, specifically after Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses was published, theological disputes erupted, a schism forming in the church at the time," Iroha continued.

"The Protestant Reformation," Saya said quietly.

Iroha nodded. "As I'm sure you all learned in world history, there was conflict between the Protestants and Catholics since the former no longer recognized the authority of the latter… but did you also know that from this conflict, different sects proceeded to arise?"

Taking a breath, she continued. "Most of these sects were extremely small and did little to nothing in the ways of publicity or anything of the like. Because of this, many were completely lost to history – the only way to know of these sects is if personal stories of it were passed onto the next generation and so on.

"And how these sects developed before ultimately being lost to time naturally differed. Some were no different from the Catholic or Protestant churches in terms of organization and rituals, just downsized. Extremely so. But there were others that, well… tried to do things differently. And ended up making rather esoteric changes in the process.

"One such sect, again, extremely small and obscure, had the idea to try and contact God Himself, for the express purpose of getting an answer on which church should have authority over the others – the Protestants or the Catholics or something else entirely."

"Sounds like a bunch of fanatics," said the teacher of the group here, Kyouko Hayashi, if Kiriko recalled the name correctly. She didn't say this unkindly, however, merely pointing out something.

Something that, to be frank, Kiriko had been thinking too. She microscopically nodded in agreement and briefly looked to see how the others were reacting so far. So far, they all were dead quiet and focused completely on Iroha, but Kiriko could tell they were just itching to ask some questions.

"You wouldn't be entirely wrong," Iroha said before continuing. "Anyways, with this idea in mind, they thought long and hard about how to go about it. And in due time, they proceeded to come up with one ritual after another in an effort to contact God. None of them worked and over time, the members of this sect began to lose faith in their own efforts…

"Until they succeeded, amazingly enough. How exactly they did so, I don't know. I'm not sure I'd even want to know. But they did succeed in reaching 'up' and grabbing something's attention… only it wasn't God's."

"This Demon of yours…" the girl named Saeko muttered. Near her was the young girl Alice, who shuddered at the mere mention of its name now.

Iroha nodded, her expression grim. It wasn't until now that Kiriko saw just how tired the buxom woman looked, her normally light skin now looking very pale and covered in a light sheen of sweat.

"Yes," Iroha whispered. "It heard their call and heeded it. Thing is, whatever exactly the Demon is, it's not a being of physical matter… or any matter at all. It couldn't physically manifest in this plane of existence, so it tried using the people there to do so. They all died… except for one.

"The sole survivor of the sect had been a young woman, who had to watch as her fellow members, including her husband, died in agony as the Demon tried to possess them only to fail. And when it had tried to possess her, for a while, it looked like she would die too.

"Except she didn't. The woman had been pregnant, you see, only a few months along at that point in time, and when the Demon had entered her, it had detected this fact and tried to manifest through the child."

"It failed… right?" the one named Kohta Hirano – poor boy, to lose his legs like that, Kiriko thought – asked, looking worried.

"Thankfully, yes. During that brief moment it had resided in that young woman, trying to get to the child, an infinitesimal portion of its power leaked out of its very being and into the woman herself, providing her, if only for that brief minute, with enough power to drive the Demon out of her.

"It was also during this moment or two of possession that she got to peer into its mind just as much as it had peered into her own. She came to possess a certain understanding of its nature and realized in horror just how close all of existence had come to ruin in that moment. Whatever changes the possession had caused in her still remained even after the Demon was driven out and she'd developed the ability to even alter reality itself if only on a more personal scale.

"She put this ability to good use right away. Thanks to the possession also, she knew of her child's gender well before birth – a girl – and then proceeded to use that newfound power of hers to alter her own DNA, her own genes along with that of her unborn daughter's to ensure that only girls can ever be born of her bloodline. After that, she proceeded to use her new power to give her husband and friends a proper burial and grieve. A few weeks later, she then fled the country.

"The Demon's possession had granted her a few other benefits – slowed physical aging after a certain point and heightened physical attributes, though not an extended lifespan. The woman died somewhere in Asia, well after her daughter had been born and had grown up to start a family of her own, though not before explaining to her daughter why the two of them had powers and made sure to tell her to pass on this knowledge to every child she had… and that her children then pass it on to theirs and so on and so forth.

"And from there… the bloodline continued, eventually even spreading across the world – throughout Asia, including here in Japan, back to Europe and to the United States, even somewhat into South America too. All of the woman's descendants were girls, who possessed the same attributes the woman had gained, though each one developed a different power of their own. Some developed telekinesis, others pyrokinesis. Some had the ability to teleport or to fly or had high-speed regeneration. There were those who could even erase things from existence and then some who could create barriers-."

"Such as yourself," stated Kiriko in amazement. "You're one of these descendants."

Iroha nodded. "Yes… and in a way, I suppose that would make me and the others of that woman's bloodline children of the Demon in a sense."

"That's why…" Takashi began to mutter, grabbing everyone's attention. "Even though I never met my relatives from your side of the family… I did recall seeing pictures of them. It was mainly women. That's why…!"

Iroha nodded again. Her expression looked pained now. "I believe the implication of this should be obvious."

Indeed it was.

If all this was true – and with how crazy things have been ever since this apocalypse started, Kiriko saw no reason to dismiss this story immediately – then that meant…

"I'm related to this Demon too," Takashi whispered. But with how fucking quiet everyone else was, he might as well have yelled out those words at the top of his lungs.

The poor guy looked ready to fall off the sofa, his body so slack from the shock he was obviously feeling that it was only thanks to Rei sitting beside him to hold him up that Takashi hadn't fallen yet.

Nearby, the nurse Shizuka looked ready to dash forward and check him over, but held back that urge, though Kiriko could see the buxom blonde looking most conflicted still.

Come to think of it, so did Saya and that Saeko girl. Both of them looked like they wanted to be right by his side but were forcibly and reluctantly holding themselves back.

"But why did it seem to have such an interest in me?!" Takashi now said, some of that strength from before now returning to him. He sat up straighter, the anger from before also rekindling after the shock began to fade a bit.

"Because it needs to possess you," Iroha said softly.

Again, with how quiet everyone was, the words came out as loud as a gunshot in comparison.

"Why?" Rei asked. Kiriko's heart started to break a bit at how stunned and hurt her daughter looked. She truly cared for Takashi, so to now know that some super-powerful _thing_ was gunning for him was a definite stunner. "To exist in this… this plane of existence or whatever? It already has a body!"

"Indeed…" mumbled that Saeko girl. "From what I was able to see when I stood up and got to the door when it struck that barrier, it seemed quite solid enough."

"Isn't it obvious?" Saya then said, all eyes now on her. She huffed in mild annoyance. "The reason why has to do with what your ancestor did, doesn't it?"

Iroha could only grimace in agreement. "The Demon inherently identifies itself as a male or at least whatever passes as a male for one such as it. That's one of the reasons why its attempted possession of my ancestor and her child failed – both were female."

"Then how come it couldn't possess any one of the men that had been there during the ritual?" Kyouko-san asked.

"It couldn't because no one – man or woman – was tough enough to endure its possession. But had it possessed a woman that was pregnant with a boy… perhaps it could have succeeded." Iroha bit her lip, fatigue and guilt evident on her face. "But in a way, this had been a blessing in disguise for it – after all, even if it could have manifested through a pregnant woman, there's no way to tell if the child it possessed through said woman would've been able to house it properly anyways. Perhaps for a while, but indefinitely? There's no way to say for sure.

"But now… Takashi exists," Iroha whispered. "He's of my blood and therefore of the Demon's blood in a way. He's sturdier than any other human, including others of the bloodlines, in a number of ways, ways that not even I can fully imagine… and the Demon knows that."

"In other words, he's the ideal vessel for it," said a now bitter sounding Saya.

"B-But still!" screamed Rei. "Why?! It can clearly make its own body or whatever!"

"Only temporarily."

Everyone there jumped a bit and then turned towards the door. Takeru had returned, a small black box in hand. The man looked as if he'd been standing there for a while now.

The man smiled apologetically for spooking them and proceeded to walk towards his wife's side, tucking the box under his right arm. Kiriko eyed it curiously, seeing some old stickers on it, the kind that a young kid would be into.

On instinct, she looked to Takashi and saw him looking at the box too, his expression one of surprise and recognition. However, the teen said nothing.

"Now then, how about I take over for a while?" Takeru then asked.

* * *

Saya looked to Takashi's dad most curiously, unable to guess just how exactly he could contribute to this outpouring of information. And as crazy as this all sounded, Saya was left with no choice but to believe it all, her sense of skepticism having taken major hits ever since this apocalypse got underway.

That said, she was indeed skeptical about what Takashi's dad could possibly say to add to all this, seeing as it was his wife who had the most to do with this current situation.

"What do you mean, Takeru?" Rei's mom asked, narrowing her eyes at him in confusion.

"Don't you remember what my own occupation was?" the man asked rhetorically.

Saya quirked an eyebrow in mild bewilderment.

If she recalled correctly, then he used to be…

"Uhm what did you used to do, mister?" asked Alice of all people, the girl looking extremely unsure of herself. Not to mention the redness of her eyes too… she'd been crying a lot, it seemed. Losing Zeke must have been a heavy lose for her considering just how close the two had been.

He smiled at the girl gently. "I used to be a teacher before this all happened, just like my wife here. Only I taught at a university instead of an elementary school."

"Right," Rei's mom mumbled. "The physics department…"

Takashi's dad, Mr. Komuro, nodded. "And as supernatural as this all is, there's some science behind all this too."

"Oh man, hope I can understand what you're going to say…" the gun geek commented, somewhat worried in a comical way.

Mr. Komuro chuckled a bit. "I'll try to explain as best as I can." Then his expression grew serious. "Now then, how many of you are familiar with string theory?"

Many of the people there awkwardly made a noise here and there to show that they've at least heard of it, which made Saya roll her eyes just slightly. She naturally knew what it was and so did Hayashi-sensei, if the light nod of her head was anything to go by.

Surprisingly, even Takashi seemed to make a sound of affirmation, but then again, this was his dad they were talking about here, so perhaps this shouldn't be so surprising after all to her.

Undeterred by this, Mr. Komuro merely smiled. "Alright then." He nodded to himself. "Okay, to try and keep things simple, string theory is a theoretical framework that has long since been used to try serving as a unifying theory for everything – fundamental forces, gravity, etc. Now, it has its issues as any other theory does, especially since it doesn't have a satisfactory definition in all circumstances.

"I'll spare you a lot of the specifics, but when it comes to string theories, physicists tend to include what's called extra dimensions in these theories in order to keep the math consistent. In addition to mathematical consistency, by accounting for extra dimensions, physicists can perform calculations that can provide general insights more easily.

"Now the number of extra dimensions can vary from theory to theory – bosonic string theory says spacetime is 26-dimensional while superstring theory says it's 10-dimensional and with M-theory stating its 11-dimensional. But as you can obviously tell, the one thing these have in common is that there exist scenarios where there are more dimensions than the four that most are familiar with.

"There are ways of trying to modify the number of dimensions within these theories. One way is called compactification, where these extra dimensions close up on themselves into circles. Another way of reducing the number of dimensions is called the brane-world scenario, in which our observable 4-dimensional universe is actually a subspace of a higher dimensional space."

Mr. Komuro then took a breath. "Now this is where the Demon finally enters the picture."

Saya, while fascinated by what the man has been saying thus far, now really perked up interest. So did everyone else.

"Ever since I first learned of this thing from my wife, I really got interested in it, namely in how the hell it could exist in the first place without being detected for so long in addition to how it could possibly be making its way here." Mr. Komuro grimaced. "Given that this is all theory, there's really no way to test and confirm anything, so just keep that in mind, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, we got it, just get to the point, Takeru," Rei's mom said impatiently. "Just how the hell is this Demon doing what it does? Will this info help us?"

Mr. Komuro smiled sheepishly at taking so long here but got serious once more a second later.

"From what I've been able to gather, this Demon is a very unique existence, one that can warp just about anything around it simply by existing – with terrifying results more often than not. So if this thing truly did come from one of these extra dimensions or higher dimensions as the brane-world scenario would imply in this case, then the whole world would've detected this thing a long time ago.

"But given that it hadn't been until Iroha's ancestor and her sect unknowingly called out to it that it even arrived in the first place followed by this apocalypse, this Demon is clearly slipping through the 'cracks' in the dimensional framework. In other words, it's wiggling its way through the entirety of existence itself, digging its own little tunnel if you wish to call it that to get to here.

"But here's the thing, the real terrifying part – ask yourself this: why would it do that?" he asked of them.

Everyone there remained quiet, trying to digest what he'd just said. Not even Saya, well aware of her own intelligence, could immediately think of an answer to that question.

But this appeared to be something the man had known would happen, for he continued on unperturbed. "What I'm getting at here is that the Demon is literally too 'big' for our dimensional framework to successfully hold if it ever bothered to directly enter any part of it. What I'm getting at is that the Demon may very well be an entity that transcends the very _concept_ of dimensional space itself. If this truly is the case – and I'm oddly confident it is – then it would explain a fair bit. It can't directly enter any reality lest it crush everything instantly with its existence, so it has to try and create something that could somewhat abide by the laws of reality without breaking it, hence the body we all saw earlier."

Everyone sat where they were, once again trying to take this all in. Even if all the physics talk was a bit much for most of them, Saya could tell that they at least comprehended the implications well enough.

So did she, of course, and it terrified her. If that truly was the case, then stopping this thing was an impossibility. Especially since…

"If that's true," Hayashi-sensei suddenly spoke. "If what we saw was merely some kind of… some kind of avatar of the Demon, then that means it's not actually gone. It merely just ran out of time for now."

Mr. Komuro nodded. "My thoughts exactly. I don't know what exactly the Demon can do, what sort of powers or abilities it may possess – given its nature, it might very well be as close to the concept of omnipotence as one could get – but one thing's for certain: that body it's made, temporary though it may be, will be back eventually." He sighed. "But if I'm truly right, then it's gotten its true self stuck in the gaps between dimensions and it's far too eager to try getting to my son here to risk 'moving' or else it'll simply end up crushing all of existence as a result. Something that it clearly doesn't want to do."

"But why?" Rei asked. "What could it possibly want? It needs Takashi for it, right?" She looked pained and worried when she said that last bit.

The boy himself tensed up at that too.

"I honestly don't know," Takashi's mom now answered. "I'm certain my ancestor knew, but she never bothered to share specifics on that. She did make clear one thing, though… whatever the Demon has in mind, it wouldn't be good for humanity. Or anything else, really."

Mr. Komuro nodded. "And if it does manage to get its hands on my son… well, I'm not sure what exactly will occur, how it would go about things, but presumably with a body capable of containing the entirety of its existence, its power will no longer have any restrictions on it. It would truly be invincible."

Everyone fell deathly silent at that, boggled by that statement.

Simply judging by the horrible feeling the presence of its temporary body instilled in them, the Demon already seemed unstoppable as it is, time limit aside. But if it ever was able to bring its full power to bear on them all…

Yeah, they'd just be fucked. No other way Saya could put it.

A veritable spring of emotions began to burst from within her.

As nightmarish as this all had been up until now, there'd been a small part of her that had held out some small measure of hope for the future. That maybe, just maybe, this apocalypse would come to an end. But to now know what they were truly up against, Saya felt that hope die within her completely.

Until…

"Is there anything that can be done about this?" asked Takashi suddenly.

She looked up at him and balked a bit. The boy certainly looked surprised by all this, just as much as they all did if not more so considering he was at the center of this, but there burned a fire in his eyes that made her nearly shiver… in a good way, that is.

As stupefied as he must be feeling, he clearly intended to fight to the bitter end. In what way, she couldn't even begin to imagine…

But seeing the defiant look in his eyes as he asked that question just now…

It was slight and it may still be pointless, but she felt that hope within her rekindle just a bit.

And so, she along with the others made sure to sit back and listen as the boy – no, the man – clearly intended to speak up now.

* * *

To say he was left shocked by all this would be putting it extremely mildly, like saying the sun was somewhat warm or that water was a little wet.

Needless to say, it wasn't every day one learns they're somewhat descended from a demon that intends to possess them.

But all this talk being uttered as if it was all hopeless was really pissing him off now, as if it was inevitable.

And that was irritating Takashi more than words could ever express.

God, how he wanted to yell right now. To cuss out his parents for keeping this hidden from him for so long. But there was a part of him that whispered in his mind what the point would've been if he'd even known from the start anyways. All this shit still probably would've happened.

It was this treacherous whispering that kept him from acting on his anger, though said anger was far from diminished.

So instead, he could only try to redirect it.

He stared at his surprised parents. "Well? Anything we can do about it?" He barked out these words rather impatiently.

At his words, his mom flinched. "Takashi, didn't you just hear what we said? The Demon can just keep making that temporary body over and over again until it gets to you."

"And can you truly say you know that for a fucking fact?" he growled out. "That barrier – which you still haven't explained exactly – kept it out just long enough for its time to run out."

His mom sighed. "That barrier won't hold forever. You saw how it cracked it."

"But it still took a fucking hit from that thing and remained intact," Takashi shot back. He started to stand and pace around, his emotions so strong and uncontrollable that pacing was the only thing he could do right now to stay occupied, talking aside.

"It would've broken through with just another attack or two…" his mom mumbled out.

But Takashi didn't let her off that easily. "Fucking shit, can't you just reinforce it or something?"

"Takashi, your mom's been doing that this whole time," his dad now said. "Please understand, it's not as if she can keep it up indefinitely."

Takashi bristled. "How does the barrier even work anyways?"

"…It's more of a conceptual defense than anything else," his mom began slowly. "By thinking 'I want to protect myself and others from this' or 'I want to keep this particular thing out,' an invisible barrier forms to carry out that exact function, no matter what. So if I were to think 'I don't want any burglars in this neighborhood,' then anyone with such ill intent will find themselves literally unable to get within a certain distance of this neighborhood."

She took a breath. "In this case, my desire had been 'to keep out the undead and those monsters and any who wish to do us harm, especially the Demon.' As a result, this barrier was formed and that's why we can come and go easily while the undead, monsters and anyone else intending to hurt us such as bandits and whatnot can't even scratch the barrier."

"…Say, is that why there hasn't been any burglars in this neighborhood?" Kiriko suddenly spoke up in surprise. "The other neighborhoods have had some incidents here and there of burglary or whatever, but this one had always been pretty much devoid of any crime…"

Takashi watched as his mom nodded. "Yes, I was responsible for that," she said somewhat sheepishly. "I'd also erected a barrier like that over the elementary schools in the area. But when this apocalypse occurred, I took down those barriers in order to fully concentrate on this one. normally, my barriers are invisible, but this one isn't due to how much power is needed to maintain it."

"Because of the Demon, right?"

His mom nodded again. "Correct. But again, I can't keep it up forever. These barriers are tied to both my physical and mental stamina… and I've been keeping the barrier up ever since the apocalypse started, hence why I've been lying down so much recently. The strain is starting to get to me. The Demon's attack hadn't helped either since I had to reinforce it to its absolute limit… and the recoil from its attack didn't help."

Takashi snarled at that.

"Fucking great…" he mumbled.

So much for that. So basically, his mom was running on fumes right now, so the barrier will eventually collapse on its own, assuming the Demon didn't come back to finish it off by then. But that now said…

"Will it still be able to keep the zombies and those monsters out?" he asked.

His mom nodded. "It should, so long as the stronger ones don't… speaking of which." She sighed. "There's something else that also needs to be explained."

At that, his dad stepped forward and held up the box he'd been asked to retrieve.

Takashi flinched upon seeing it, vague memories from his childhood coming to the forefront of his mind. It was slight, but he did remember that box. It was giving him a bad feeling here.

So much so that when his dad walked up and handed it to him, Takashi found himself suddenly rooted in place like a statue.

"Check it out," his dad said softly as he backed away.

Inwardly gulping, Takashi sat back down next to Rei while eyeing the box warily. Unconsciously, he ran a hand over the cover of it, his fingers lightly tracing the stickers on it, stickers that he could now remember having owned as a kid.

This box used to be his. He remembered now. He also remembered his mom having eventually taken it away from him for some reason… so why give it back now of all times?

Bracing himself, he took the lid off and flung it lightly to the side, unaware of it landing in the lap of a bemused Hirano.

Inside it were numerous papers, all folded up nice and neat. There was quite a bit of them, easily fifty of them, maybe just a bit more.

Taking them out, Takashi then unfolded the stack and gave a large portion of it to Rei to hold onto. Further unfolding the top one that he'd grabbed, Takashi took a look at it… and froze.

"…What the fuck is this?" he muttered after a minute, his hands starting to shake. "What is this supposed to be?!"

He was only vaguely aware of Rei leaning over to look at the drawing on the paper and gasp. He was also just barely aware of her then proceeding to look through the other papers she had before even passing them around to the others.

Similar reactions of shock resounded from the others and it only made him that much more agitated.

He glared at his parents, demanding answers before looking back down to the drawing in his hand. The title of it simply read _'doggy'_ and although the drawing was naturally pretty crude, he recognized what was drawn well.

That same damn monster he'd fought and killed much earlier today. The one that had hurt him so badly.

Why was there a drawing of it?! And of some of the other monsters he'd seen too?!

"….You truly don't remember," his mom muttered, a troubled expression on her face.

"What do you mean damn it!" he nearly yelled in response. Takashi stood up and threw the paper aside along with the box itself. "Why are there drawings of those fucking things?!"

His mom looked at him, unsure if she should explain, it seemed. But she ultimately relented. "Back then, when you were just a young boy, you went through a period of terrible nightmares. So terrible that you'd wake up screaming to the point of nearly coughing up blood." As if recalling those memories, his mother continued, a haunted expression on her face. "To help you try and overcome it, we bought you some drawing supplies – nothing too fancy, just crayons and pencils and scratch paper. We figured that by drawing up these imaginary monsters of yours and sealing them away in a box with all of your favorite anime stickers on it and the like, it'd help you deal with the nightmares by making it seem as if your heroes, both from your shows back then and those that you yourself came up with, had sent the monsters away."

His mother paused for a breath. She ran a hand through her hair too, her skin getting just a bit paler in the process. Looks like that barrier really was taking a toll on her.

"It took quite a while – you'd dreamed up numerous monsters and the like chasing after you – but eventually the nightmares subsided… and as if having a premonition, I took the box out of your room to hold onto it, which I've done ever since." His mom looked him in the eyes, her expression now bitter and conflicted. "I suppose in a way I was right to do so – by having those drawings on hand and committing them to memory, I was able to tailor make my barrier to especially focus on keeping them away from here."

"T-That's…" Takashi began, only to trail off. "But what about all the fucking zombies? And how exactly do my drawings fit into this mess?"

"I think I can answer that first one…" Shizuka suddenly said.

Takashi turned to look at her just in time to see the busty nurse hold up one of the drawings Rei had passed to her. It was a drawing of what looked like numerous people, though crudely drawn of course. Their skin in the drawing looked pale, their clothes tattered and with an ominous red crayon clearly representing blood.

And the title of that particular drawing was brutally straightforward – _'zombie virus.'_

Takashi could only stare, his mind blanking as it desperately tried to fit all these pieces together.

His mom spoke, softly this time, more so than any other time before. "I believe when the Demon started to make its move after all these years, it unconsciously managed to pluck these long-buried nightmares from your mind and make them real. After all, it seems to be able to get a better read on you whenever you slept, so this is the most likely possibility."

"So what you're saying…" Takashi began. His chest was feeling tight, like he was losing his ability to breath. Indeed, it felt like he was suffocating right now. No doubt, he was hyperventilating.

He didn't want to continue that thought aloud, he truly didn't. But his mouth no longer seemed to be listening to his brain's signals; it moved of its own accord and finished saying the thought he didn't want said.

"You're saying I'm partially responsible for all this. For this entire fucking apocalypse."

It was as if he'd dropped a bomb or something, everyone else in the room looking positively blown away, the very picture of shocked.

"No…" his dad now began, being the first to recover. "Takashi, that's not it at-!"

"Those monsters out there – I dreamt them up!" He cut his dad off, exclaiming these words with a level of force that scared even himself. Especially himself. "I- I-!"

All of the destruction those monsters have caused thus far. All of the people killed and turned into the undead.

All of those people back at his school and the surrounding neighborhoods. Alice's parents. Hisashi. The people at Saya's house, possibly including her parents now…

They're all dead. Because of those monsters. _His_ monsters.

Emotions welled up within him, threatening to burst forth like a flood.

He couldn't hold back anymore. He couldn't be in this room anymore, not with all the eyes on him.

So he turned and ran. Right out the door, smashing it off its hinges.

He didn't slow when some of the others called out his name in shock and concern. He didn't turn when he vaguely heard some of them getting up to go after him.

Takashi ran from the house until he got back to his own, once again smashing through the door in the process. No one had bothered fleeing into his home earlier, leaving him as the house's current occupant right now.

Good.

His mad run transitioned into a slow walk as he entered the living room area of his house. He stood right in the center of it for a moment as he futilely tried to hold himself back, suppress the emotions within him right now.

But he failed.

And like a volcano, he erupted.

He screamed, louder than he ever had before. The battle cries he'd let out in his fight against the 'dog' – no, 'doggy' – didn't even compare in volume and intensity to this scream.

Takashi let loose, upheaving furniture, throwing lamps and cushions, punching through walls – the stone walls – and knocking pictures and paintings off their frames.

He let loose every single emotion he's ever bottled up in his life, crying unrepentantly even as he swung his fists and kicked his legs. He targeted anything and everything in the room and beyond, barreling his way into the kitchen and throwing everything around. He pulled out and flung drawers and cooking utensils. He split the dining table in two. He knocked over the fridge and cupboards and pounded the countertop until it was completely smashed.

Takashi didn't emerge from this unscathed, reopening some of his wounds and ended up bruising his knuckles after a while. He got dust and water in his hair and eyes and his clothes were covered with splinters from wooden furniture and condiments he'd smashed within the now open fridge.

Even so, he didn't care. He kept at it, eventually working his way back out of the kitchen and up to his room.

His outpouring of emotion stopped for just a split second as he stood in the doorway to said room, looking it over.

Looking at how spartan it had become over the years, as if signifying just how dull and lifeless he too had become ever since late childhood.

Taking it all in, the mere sight retriggered his rage and he let out another scream as he went to work, smashing up everything there.

His bed.

The few pictures he'd still owned, of back when he and Rei and Saya were happy kids and friends.

His small TV and radio.

His desk and small bookshelf.

Everything that was once his suffered his wrath.

Until eventually he was just about the only thing there left in one piece.

Huffing and puffing in great fatigue as the rage and adrenaline wore off, Takashi collapsed to the floor and shed even more tears.

Although no longer acting on it, his rage was still there, now just dwelling under the surface for the time being.

All of the destruction he'd just caused had merely been an inadequate attempt at trying to channel his emotions.

And now that he was left with no other choice but to rest right now, Takashi could only self-reflect… and in doing so, realized what he'd really wanted to destroy right now -.

Himself.

He who, inadvertently or not, brought up the apocalypse. He who killed untold millions, maybe even billions.

All the people at his school.

Alice's parents.

Hisashi.

Saya's parents and the others that had been at her house…

Inadvertently or not, indirectly or not, their deaths were all on his hands.

All because he'd existed.

His sobs grew fiercer.

* * *

The wickerman monster inwardly grimaced.

It'd been able to slip in through the crack in the barrier, but that didn't mean it'd suddenly been able to do whatever it wanted it here.

The barrier was still very much active and whatever sort of force it enacted within it was hard at work.

For although in fog form still, the monster struggled to maintain itself, its fog-like body threatening to disperse as the inside of the barrier seemed to be actively working in rendering it inert.

It had no idea just how much time exactly had passed since entering the crack, but after a while it sort of began to adjust, being able to retain its fog body's structure well enough to finally start moving around.

However, it could still feel the barrier try to tear it apart, rejecting its very existence within it as a matter of course.

It'd be a continuous battle simply to maintain itself, it would seem.

No matter. It hadn't come this far now simply to pull back. After all, there was no telling if that crack would eventually seal up and if it did, it'd only be back to where it started.

Best to simply move on from here.

Its desire to feast on the people here gave it strength, though, enough to consider that perhaps it had a solid chance of doing what it wished to do without too much trouble.

But what really gave it the strength to soldier on was the outpouring of emotion it was detecting now. A veritable ocean of rage and sadness and despair. A feast greater than anything it's ever seen thus far.

It captivated the monster, enough to distract it from its original intent on going after that particular group from earlier. Even when it saw some of the people from said group run out of a house to seemingly go to another one, the monster felt its interest them wane significantly. The emotions it was detecting now was simply that overwhelming.

And it was coming from a house that many loud noises have been coming from just a moment or two ago. Apparently, whoever was the source of such an outpouring had physically acted on it, messing everything within the home up.

The monster had a strong idea as to who the source may be.

The monster felt a dark sense of glee well up from within.

It never would've imagined the boy that had piqued its interest to now be capable of producing so much intensity. It really had been a blessing in disguise to have ever come across him and his group in the first place.

Its hunger growing in response to the feast all but literally being presented to it, the monster ventured forth in fog form towards the house.

It would appear it was time to finally settle this.

* * *

 **So what do you think, guys? Mind-blowing? Stupid? So stupid that it circles back around to mind-blowing? Ha ha ha.**

 **Whelp, I answered just about most of the major questions, I'd imagine. However there's still quite a few big questions left that need answering and I aim to deliver in the coming chapters. Hope those answers will be as surprising as the ones given in this chapter.**

 **On another and completely random note, the Demon is by far the most powerful character I've ever written. For a fan fic, that is. But when including both my first novel and my planned rebooted second novel… well, heh heh.**

 **Other than that, not much else to say, really. But if you guys have any questions, don't hesitate to PM me or mention them in a review. Of course, depending on what the question is, I may not be able to properly answer for fear of spoilers.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	18. Chapter 18

**TheDarkHollow** , thank you very much for your confidence in me. It really does mean a lot. Wouldn't say I'm feeling down about my first novel, though, heh heh, though I will admit it's a bit saddening there'd been no sales of it yet, but that's just how it is often times. In any case, I've been working recently on the updated character profiles for the reboot, which really helped get the creative juices flowing in me a bit more so there's that. Also, no worries, glad you're liking this fic so much!

Hope it continues to amaze!

 **X59** , as promised, this chapter will contain some of the answers to the questions you asked. Hope you enjoy!

 **Joker wx** , heh heh just wait and see what exactly I have in store for the characters!

 **Flo463** , ha ha glad you're surprised. And your questions will be answered too by the story in good time. Also, yeah, it wasn't really my cup of tea, but was a decent read for a while. Thanks for telling me about it. On another note too, you on Deviantart? Could've sworn I saw your username on one of the comments there when I was just browsing for fun.

And to **esfmaster** , glad to hear!

Whelp, not going to waste much time on anything else other than that I am in the midst of a recruiting process for a new job, so depending on how that goes, the next few chapters may take a bit longer than usual to get out, though hopefully not by much. That said, sure hope to get this job – better pay and environment and definitely is something I'd enjoy. Wish me luck, guys!

Chapter 18

"Quite the bunch your son has met up with," Kiriko commented absently to both Iroha and Takeru.

Following the dropping of all those bombshells, Takashi had darted out of this house in pretty much the blink of an eye. And then not even a minute or two later, the sounds of what could only be described as a massive emotional breakdown could be heard all the way from here even though all the thrashing was occurring in the Komuros' home.

Not that Kiriko could blame the kid – poor Takashi, having to have all that shit dropped on him out of nowhere. Even if he'd demanded the answers to start with, surely things could've been worded just a bit better, right?

Well, that aside, the others had wasted no time getting up and leaving to go check on him as soon as Takashi was heard smashing shit up in his own house.

Kiriko couldn't help but admire just how swift the others had been in getting up to go check on him. Even that other kid whose legs had been demolished had wished to go check on Takashi, with both Saya and that teacher, Kyouko Hayashi-san, to partially carry him outside whilst the others ran on ahead.

Alas, her comment went without a response from the Komuros. Kiriko could only sigh.

"Well, you sure know how to tell a crazy story, I'll give you that," she then said.

Takeru chuckled weakly. "For what it's worth, even I have trouble fully accepting it even now."

Yeah, she was willing to bet on that. That really was a lot to take in, after all.

"Still, there's one question that I have that has gone unanswered so far," she said. She turned to face Iroha, whose face was looking a bit paler than before, her expression troubled and a bit dazed.

A small part of her sympathized with her friend, but not enough to keep herself from asking a question she's had on her mind ever since she saw the initial confrontation between Takashi and his parents here.

"Iroha." She waited until the woman in question looked her way. "Just answer me this: why have you treated Takashi the way you have up until now? The way you spoke and acted just now throughout all that explaining… to me, it seemed like you do care for him, after all. So why the cold shoulder all his life?"

Iroha bit her lip and glanced away.

"Iroha…." Kiriko narrowed her eyes as she growled out the woman's name. "Come on, don't leave me hanging here. From one mother to another, just tell me why."

Iroha continued to bite her lip, looking conflicted. Takeru kept silent but looked pained as he watched on.

Kiriko prepared to yell at her friend if need be when it looked like she still wasn't going to answer, but just as she was about to do so, Iroha finally spoke.

"Remember what was said earlier? About how my entire ancestral line is full of women?" Iroha began. Kiriko nodded. "They all grew up the same way I did – learning of what happened with the Demon initially and the powers we were born with… along with the unspoken duty of trying to ensure the Demon never crosses into our reality.

"When I was pregnant with Takashi, I never bothered getting an ultrasound. After all, considering my lineage, it would've been redundant – my child would be a girl… or so I thought." Iroha's expression fell. "So when I gave birth to Takashi – a boy – how do you think I felt?"

Kiriko didn't answer. She honestly wasn't sure what to say, really. But considering the silent burden placed on Iroha and her ancestors, she imagined Takashi's birth must have heralded the Demon's inevitable coming… in which case, she could imagine that the woman must have been more than a little shocked, likely even scared of the implications at the time.

"But more importantly, how do you think my side of the family felt, upon learning I'd given birth to a boy?" Iroha continued. Her expression fell some more. Tears threatened to spill forth from her now watering eyes. "…They were all so shocked. So scared. Even though none of us had gone through what our ancestor went through, the very terror that the Demon inspired in her seemed to have been passed down to all of us too, almost as if it was genetic.

"….They demanded that I kill Takashi."

Kiriko's heart skipped a beat or two there. "…What?"

Iroha's expression now… Kiriko couldn't think of words to describe it. "My sisters and mother and grandmother and even great-grandmother… all of them, upon finding out about Takashi, told me to kill him. To put a stop to the Demon's eventual arrival before it ever even got a chance to start."

Kiriko was feeling lightheaded now. "Did you ever…? I mean, did you even give it any thought?"

Had Iroha ever considered going through with that advice?

Iroha looked up at her in absolute shock, even horror. "No!" she stated strongly, more strongly than anything else she's ever said before. "How could I ever do that?! Just what kind of mother would kill her own child?!"

"T-Then why treat him so coldly?" Kiriko asked.

"Because…" Here, Iroha looked down, her hands balling tightly into fists. There was a sense of anger about her but aimed entirely at herself.

"Even though I would never kill him, every single time I looked at Takashi, all I could see was what he represented – the Demon's eventual arrival and vessel. The beginning of the end for all of existence. A world where life, as we define it, would cease to be. I couldn't do it. Just couldn't handle it. Every time I looked upon my own son, I could never see him, only the end result. Sometimes, it felt like I might go insane from just being around him for too long.

"In the beginning, it wasn't too bad – just stay focused on nurturing him, like any mother should do with a baby… but once he started to learn how to crawl and eventually walk, when he started to transition from a baby to a child and eventually to a teenager, once I saw him become more independent, all I could do was just stay back and sort of just wait to see when it'd happen. To see when the Demon would make its move. Of course, it didn't help either with how my own family seemed to stay further and further away from me and Takashi, as if we were a bomb… but not before continually reminding me every year on his birthday that the fate of everything rested on my shoulders. With so much pressure on me from myself and from the others, all I could do to cope was to kill off my own heart concerning him, and steel myself for the day when the end was upon us all… all with the hope that maybe, just maybe, it'd never come or that something would happen to halt it completely when everything else had failed."

Iroha wiped away the tears that fell down her delicate cheeks before looking up at Kiriko. "I know that's a poor excuse. I know I'm a horrible mother and can never make up for my behavior. But Kiriko, I want you to know this one thing: I love my son. I could never bring myself to kill him, not back then, not now and not ever. And even if it means overstraining myself to the point of death, I'll do my best to keep the Demon at bay for as long as possible… it's the very least that I can do for being such a poor excuse for a human being."

Takeru kneeled down next to his wife, whose body was wracked with sobs and hugged her gently. Kiriko could only look on, trying to take this all in.

Like Iroha said, all those fears didn't justify how she treated Takashi, but she could at the very least understand now how things came to that point.

When one gets down to it, fear had been the root cause of the woman's actions. And as a former officer, Kiriko knew very well what sort of things fear can do to people. She's seen it plenty of times, criminals who committed suicide out of fear of being thrown in prison or fellow officers who did stupid career ending mistakes because they allowed fear to cloud their judgement too much. Never mind those that let their fear dictate their actions off the job, making them no better than the criminals they put away.

Fear can be a powerful motivator, but if left unchecked, it could so easily lead to ruin. If nothing else, Kiriko could empathize that much with Iroha. She supposed it was better than nothing, considering just how easily the woman could've brought herself to kill Takashi if she'd been scared shitless enough.

As it is, she was kind of amazed Iroha's relatives didn't try to off the poor boy themselves considering they were the ones to suggest it in the first place.

Kiriko could only sigh now. "I think I'll be stepping outside for some fresh air now." It was all she could say in light of everything that's been revealed thus far.

Feeling mentally and emotionally drained now, Kiriko figured it was best just to leave things be and settle down for a while. After all, no telling when that fucking Demon was going to be back, so might as well rest up as much as possible to fight it off if possible.

Not bothering to listen to whatever reply the Komuros may or may not have made just now, Kiriko turned and left through the smashed door, marveling ever so slightly at the strength Takashi would need to have had to accomplish something like this.

She began to walk outside, her eyes automatically looking to the barrier that still stood, wondering just how much longer exactly it would last…

Only for her thoughts to come to a halt when she heard a scream.

* * *

The wickerman monster was feeling pleasantly surprised.

It'd taken a moment or two longer than it should have thanks to the effect the barrier was having on it, but it'd finally reached the boy's room where said boy had been all but collapsed on the floor, just drained of all energy.

So lost in his own despair and sorrow the boy had been, that the monster had relished the possibility of being able to finish this boy off and feast on him in a super short time frame.

However, it had been so utterly focused on the boy, its own hunger so ravenous now in response to the feast its target had become, that it had neglected something it would've otherwise noticed:

The other members of the boy's group had trekked over here to check on said boy, with some having made their way inside the house by the time it had even arrived.

So when it had finally manifested into its physical form and swung a fist at the back of the boy's head, it had failed to notice someone else had been just a bit behind it.

And so, much to its surprise, the blond woman that served as the group's medical support, somehow managed to circle around it and shove the boy out of the way, only to receive the powerful punch in its target's place, screaming in shock and pain when it had ended up hitting her.

The blond woman went flying into the wall, slamming into it hard enough to make an indent. She collapsed in a heap to the floor immediately thereafter, still alive, but hurt.

That had been when some others swiftly arrived. Not only that, but the boy, after having been saved, now took notice of its presence and quickly scrambled to his feet.

The monster silently chided itself. It'd made quite a rookie mistake here and for no other reason than that it'd been too preoccupied to do this a bit more intelligently.

No matter.

Stupid mistake aside, this may work out quite well for it. After all, none of them had a weapon and they were all still obviously recovering from the events that took place earlier today.

Compared to the first time it had tried to go after them, whatever struggle they put up should be easy to deal with.

Sure enough, when its target threw a punch at it, it took note of how much slower and weaker it was compared to be, the boy simply that beat up and off guard. Swatting the blow aside was easy as was its counterattack, kicking the boy so hard he ended up going through the wall of the room and out into the hallway on the other side.

People behind it began to scream and it turned to focus on them.

The first person it saw was a little girl, the redhead that had come running here alongside one of the various teenaged girls the boy's group was comprised of, the one that had been with him during the first battle against it.

Unlike the little girl who was scared to the point of being almost completely still, the teenaged girl only froze up for a brief instance upon seeing the boy struck before trying to go on the offensive herself.

"You-!" she began, grabbing a nearby piece of the broken desk and holding it as a small stabbing instrument.

She screamed and tried to stab it and nearly succeeded, but it was able to pivot to the side and knock it out of her hands with ease. It then grabbed her by the back of her hair and pulled hard, throwing her out through the doorway and into the wall. She ended up crashing into the small girl and both started to tumble down the stairs nearby.

As this happened, the monster could hear others begin to approach from downstairs. But beyond noting this fact, it paid them no further mind. They were all beaten badly and drained. If this girl it had knocked aside just now was an indicator of the struggle they'd put up, it had nothing to worry about at all.

With this in mind, it turned its attention to its target, who could now be spotted getting back up. As beat as up as he was, he still clearly had some stamina left despite everything he's endured up until now.

It was rather impressive, but the monster knew it was the one with the advantage now.

So it took to the offensive again.

It ran at the boy just as he got back up and slammed a large shoulder into the teen, smashing him through a nearby door. Both of them ended up in what appeared to be the bathroom.

Feeling a bit vindictive, the monster grabbed the stunned teen and smashed his head into the medicine cabinet there, which also doubled as a mirror. Glass went flying everywhere along with some bits of wood and other things. The boy cried out in pain.

Good. The pain only made an already magnificent soon-to-be feast just a bit greater.

The monster then smashed the boy's head into the wall and through it. When it pulled the boy back, blood was flowing freely down some new injuries the boy now sported.

But one look into his eyes told the monster that the boy was far from throwing in the towel.

The boy snarled with an anger that actually took it by surprise and as the teen glared at him, something about his eyes made a flash of recognition and more go through it.

This gave the boy just enough of an opening to break free of its grip and throw several punches at its chest and stomach.

The monster grimaced. As weakened as the boy was, those blows still hurt a fair bit. It swiftly lashed out, attempting to retaliate.

The back of its hand caught the boy across the face and knocked him into the shower, but not before the boy managed to now grab a hold of it and drag it with him.

The monster went staggering forward and fell into the shower too. But rather than flail about trying to get back up, it instead switched to its fog form and reformed in a better position, saving it some trouble.

"You fucking-!" the boy began, clearly angry over its usage of its ability.

He kicked out at it from his downed position, but the monster was ready for the attack and caught it, pulling the boy by the leg out of the shower and towards it.

It threw a punch that struck him in the chin and then wrapped its other hand around his neck, then spun and threw him out of the bathroom.

The boy struck the wall and the monster wasted no time rushing out to continue the fight.

But by now the others had caught up and were already up the stairs.

In particular, that teenaged girl who usually wielded a blade came at it, having grabbed a large kitchen knife on the way up. She slashed at it with a surprising fury despite her bandaged state, managing to leave a large gash on its arm, leaking black blood.

The monster hissed in mild annoyance and promptly returned the favor, swiping at her midsection with its hand open, the nails just barely cutting into the skin as the girl leapt back to dodge.

It was ultimately a slight wound, but with how hurt she already was, the girl grunted and went down.

The monster couldn't savor the sensation of being the one in control here, however, for it could hear the others come on up. Even if the ones bringing up the rear was the non-combatants of the group, it had no desire to be surrounded by them in such a cramped space.

Best to free up a bit of space here.

It prepared to smash the walls apart to give itself some more breathing room – but before it could do so, its target was back up and tackled it from behind with a surprising level of strength and speed. It seemed like the boy had caught his second wind.

It tried to break free, but the boy's grip proved to be near unbreakable right now and he even lifted it up a bit off the floor as he continued to charge forth.

Towards the end of the hallway…

Where there was a window.

The monster let out a mild gasp. Surely the boy wasn't planning to do what it thought he was going to do.

But he did.

The two smashed through the window and went falling to the asphalt below.

* * *

Takashi, still reeling from everything that had just been revealed just barely ten or so minutes ago, was feeling just as angry as he did when he was smashing up his own home.

It had taken him a minute or two to fully get into the swing of things when that monster suddenly tried attacking him, but now he was back at the top of his game, or as close as he could be considering his own injuries.

He saw red when this fucking monster had smacked aside Rei and Saeko. And of course, seeing Shizuka take the initial hit for him hadn't exactly been a pleasant sight either.

But as angry as he was, trying to fight it inside would've been a bad thing to continue doing since it would be pretty cramped in there. Hence why he tackled it out the fucking window.

Only now that turned out to be a bit of a bad move – the monster transformed into its fog form in mid-fall and all Takashi could do in response was simply swear and continue to fall.

He hit the ground hard, hard enough that he was certain he broke something, but he quickly tried to roll forward and get back up.

Unfortunately, the monster made itself physical right behind him and stomped on the back of his head, smashing him face-first into the ground. He pretty much ended up eating asphalt as a result.

He then felt it remove its foot and tug on his hair, nearly snapping his head all the way back – only for it to smash his face into the ground again.

Gasping in pain when he felt it pull his head back again, Takashi reached out with both hands and grabbed the monster's wrist and squeezed as tightly as he possibly could.

He could hear something creak and begin to somewhat break and the monster hissed in pain. He'd nearly broken its wrist, apparently.

It let go of him but not before punching him in the back of his head with its other hand and then kicked him in the ribs, knocking him several yards to the right.

The wound he'd gotten from 'doggy' when it had stabbed him with that pole reopened from that kick and the bandages he had wrapped around it were quickly soaked with blood. Combined with several other reopened wounds and the injuries he'd just gotten from this shitty creature, Takashi imagined he looked like quite the unholy terror himself.

"Takashi!" Someone called out his name in concern, but he was hurting so much now that he couldn't even recognize the voice.

But he was just aware enough to hear gunshots go off nearby, followed by that monster screeching in surprise and pain. Some bullets must have found their mark.

However, the sensation he got whenever it was in its physical form disappeared, meaning the monster must have turned into a fog yet again. But the sensation returned only a second later and it was followed by a startled cry and a loud smacking sound.

Takashi, as he tried to stand up, now recognized the voice. That was Kiriko-san.

Growling, he forced himself to stand, his disorientation finally clearing up enough to see the monster knocking Kiriko-san aside. But as soon as it did so, he could some of the others that had gone into hiding earlier suddenly come running out of the house, apparently angered by the sight of one of their 'leaders' being struck so viciously.

"Back the fuck off her!" one of them, a guy that Takashi was pretty sure had a crush on Kiriko-san despite her being a married woman, yelled before raising the pistol he held and firing.

That first shot fired seemed to embolden the others and they swiftly started to shoot too, with varying levels of accuracy.

Some bullets struck the monster and Takashi saw it bleed before it howled and transformed again.

In its fog form, it flitted about unnaturally and all he could do was watch since he lacked a weapon.

The damned monster was unhurt by whatever shots were fired immediately thereafter, the bullets naturally going right through it. It got close to a particular group of people that had formed together not unlike a firing squad and took form in the very middle of the group even as they saw it coming and scrambled out of its way.

But they weren't quick enough. As soon as the monster took physical shape again, it immediately knocked aside one of the guys as soon as he fired, skewing his aim off enough that he ended up accidentally shooting one of the others in the side of his stomach, eliciting a shriek of pain.

The monster then punched the man hard enough to completely demolish his nose and then spun and slashed at the throat of another, resulting in a slit throat so severe that it was an almost perfect decapitation. Then before the now dead man could even begin to fall, the monster tore his head off and flung it into a now hysterical crowd of people, whatever confidence they'd built up now swiftly evaporating away.

The monster looked ready to continue its assault, intending on thinning the now panicking numbers, but Kiriko-san was back on her feet and fired her assault rifle with an accuracy that would've undoubtedly impressed Hirano.

Several bullets impacted against the monster's lower back, causing it to stumble forth.

Now was Takashi's chance.

Running as fast as he could, he charged towards the monster, letting out a roar of pure rage as he returned the favor from earlier, punching it as hard as he could in the very back of its head. The odd shape of said head meant he ended up scraping his knuckles badly, but by this point, he was kind of starting to get used to the sensation.

His punch caused it to go careening forward and slam into the ground. He stomped on it several times as viciously as he could before it managed to transform to its fog form yet again. But rather than open up a great distance between them, the monster merely moved behind him and reformed, grabbing him in a chokehold, much to his surprise.

Its grip on him was strong from the very start, Takashi almost immediately blacking out from having the air so suddenly cut off from him. He tried to weakly elbow it in its sides, but before he could do so, the monster lifted him up, throwing off his aim and swiftly backpedaled with him in tow, out onto the streets until they were only several feet away from the barrier.

It was intending to use him as a shield.

"You… little… cunt…!" Takashi growled out.

He understood that in a battle there were no fucking rules, but for the monster to pull a stunt like this after it had almost seemed to silently gloat about its own superiority when it had initially smacked him around was fucking infuriating.

As if to drive this point home, the monster tightened its hold a bit more, slowly at that too and lifted Takashi up a bit more, his weak elbow strikes hitting its chest, but not hard enough to make it loosen its hold.

Looking back to the houses, he could see just about everyone out of the homes and glaring at the monster warily, uncertain on what to do now. Even Kiriko-san, still retaining her skills from her time on the force, looked uncertain, realizing this was now a hostage situation.

By now, the others, after having been smacked around inside his house by this thing, had finally managed to make their way out here, most of them having even found some items to use as makeshift weapons. Hell, Hirano had even managed to talk someone into giving him a gun that could be fired with just one hand.

But it was all pointless; even if this thing probably can't exit the barrier the same way it somehow got in, it still had him as a shield.

He knew his friends wouldn't try anything lest the monster use him as pincushion here, but what about the others here? Would they open fire if left with no other choice? Would Kiriko-san try to shoot the monster through him?

…A part of him kind of hoped they would.

After all, if the Demon really could only exist in this plane of existence through him, then maybe… maybe, he really was better off dea-.

Something felt amiss in the air, enough to make everyone, even Takashi and the monster, momentarily freeze.

No, not in the air, but in the very fabric of space itself.

"Let. Him. _Go_." His mother growled out those three words quietly as she slowly and tiredly exited the house and stepped out in front of the entire crowd, but everyone had fallen so silent that even Takashi could hear her from this far away.

As soon as she uttered those words, Takashi felt something occur. Suddenly the hold the monster had on him lightened up enough to let him breath properly before letting up enough to allow him to actually break free.

Dropping to his knees and coughing as he tried a bit too eagerly to get some air back into his lungs, Takashi got up and turned around to see what was going on, stumbling back in the process.

His eyes widened ever so slightly at what he was seeing.

It was slight, but there was a disturbance there in the very space directly around the monster – a barrier. It was just thin enough that it looked almost like some near-invisible layer of second skin over the creature and just light enough that Takashi had to squint to see a hint of the same bright white color that the bigger barrier was composed of.

But it was there and his mom was naturally the one manipulating it. Forcing the barrier to move how she wanted, shrinking around the monster until it was left with no other choice but to revert to its fog form lest it be broken in two by the barrier.

The monster tried to escape but could only bounce around helplessly within it as the now spherical barrier levitated away and merged with the bigger barrier.

As soon as it did so, a most abnormal reaction occurred, it seemed. The bigger barrier grew even brighter than normal and an odd black crack-like formation suddenly burst forth from the spot where the smaller barrier merged with the bigger one and spread all over the place for several yards in all directions.

A horrible, demonic sounding scream of agony rang out, drilling straight into Takashi's ears before ceasing to be.

It took him a solid minute, exhausted as he was, to figure out what that scream had been – the monster's death throes.

It was dead.

Whatever kind of reaction its very presence had had with the barrier just now had been enough to kill it.

Takashi couldn't help but be somewhat amazed. Here he'd been worried that this thing might have tried to escape using him as a bargaining chip, but it looks like that put an end to things on that front.

Tiredly turning back around, but not before seeing the black matter vanish and the crack that had been made by the Demon earlier on the barrier slowly close, Takashi began his walk back to his home.

And as soon as he turned around to begin his walk back, the first thing he saw was his mother collapsing for good, looking unresponsive.

* * *

In the cracks between dimensions, the Demon, for lack of a better way to put it, wriggled as it thought.

Not for the first time, it pondered over its journey here, how things have come to this point.

For as long as it could remember, it had always existed, always been there. Having always existed but never having had a need for anything nor having had anything by its side at all, it had never been bored or anything like that… yet it wouldn't deny having craved something more, however mild this desire had been back then.

Then at some point or another, it had taken note of what it could only consider an anomaly, from its perspective.

It had always been by itself, having resided in what could only be described as an absolute void. But then there was something other than it in this infinite void – something that it had yet to even think of a proper term for but had nonetheless grabbed its attention.

However, the Demon had been quick to note that whatever this new thing was, was pitifully tiny. Infinitely so and infinitely fragile. If the Demon so much as 'breathed' near it, it would all be destroyed, leaving it alone once more.

So it had to do things carefully back then.

It had studied this new thing – this new creation, for lack of a better way to call it – as carefully as it could from outside of it and had determined there were slight cracks in it that it could worm its way through, albeit very carefully and very slowly.

That's what it had been doing ever since then, trying to fit as much of itself as it could into this creation, experiencing for the first time the sensation of eagerness, of yearning for exploration and adventure… and should it ultimately find this creation distasteful, changing it into something more appealing would be child's play.

Or so was the initial idea behind its actions.

Worming its way through the cracks had not been an easy task – one wrong move and it would end up instantly erasing this creation from existence simply because its own existence was that overwhelming.

It had initially had no anchor to latch onto either, which would've helped it immensely in burrowing as far in as it could go.

But the Demon remembered vividly how that all had changed at some point.

Although it couldn't directly interact with this creation, it could somewhat peer into it and gain brief flashes of insight into how it worked. A form of omniscience or cosmic awareness, it supposed would be the proper term based on what terminology and other knowledge it has gleamed from this creation thus far.

And during one of these flashes of insight back then, it had noticed something interesting. A small group of beings it's come to know as humans had been conducting what it had learned was called a ritual, filled with prayers that they had hoped would reach the one they call God.

In this same brief flash of insight, it had learned that these humans regarded this God as a being above all, the creator of this creation and therefore one with all yet at the same time above all.

In other words, they viewed this God as a being not unlike itself, although these humans naturally had no idea of this fact.

In any case, the Demon had latched onto their prayers and beliefs and turned it into its anchor, thereby allowing it to slingshot an infinitely small part of itself down to where they were at. Once it had established a temporary connection, it had attempted to try taking over one of the human's bodies in the hope that it would be able to serve as a proper vessel for the entirety of itself.

But that had failed miserably; all of them had died… save for that one woman. Initially, it had been reluctant to do so, having instantly realized after the first failed possession that it could only possess a male since a man was perhaps the closest thing it could identify with on some level, but having not been left with much of a choice, it had tried to possess that woman anyways…

Which had proved to be a surprising boon in hindsight. For if it couldn't use the woman itself, then perhaps a pregnant one would be better since it could at least partially help tailor the growing embryo/fetus into a more appropriate vessel.

Alas, its possession of that woman had ended up granting her some measure of power by the standards of other humans. And after its attempt had failed due to the growing baby's gender – the woman had foolishly thought it'd been her somehow turning its own power against it to make it back off – it had watched from within these dimensional cracks as the woman used her newfound power to ensure everyone descended from her bloodline would be females.

But the Demon had not been worried – the power the woman had was finite; sooner or later, the changes she had made to her own DNA and genes would wear off and a male would be born from her bloodline. And thanks to its failed possession of the woman and her child, the Demon had been able to secure her very bloodline as its new anchor to this reality, making it a bit easier for it to venture through the cracks and in turn allow it to have a general overview of what was going on in this world.

And sure enough, it had happened. The changes made wore off and one of her descendants gave birth to a baby boy.

The anchor it had made with their bloodline automatically switched to the boy himself and the Demon had been using that to try and monitor him.

Granted, it hadn't quite been a perfect connection – it had known the boy existed but couldn't fully pinpoint where exactly he was within this infinitely small creation unless it got close somehow.

But thanks to how much time it had spent here within these cracks, getting a few more flashes of insight here and there, it had been able to use some of its newfound knowledge to craft a physical body that could interact with the human's world, albeit one that could only last for short periods of time due to the existential differences between its temporary body and the world the boy lived in.

However, it had been enough for it to finally meet the boy. And now that it knew where the boy was, it was only a matter of time until it was able to claim him as its new body, capable of containing the entirety of its own existence. Then and only then will it be able to finally venture forth and explore this creation without fear of accidentally destroying it.

As patient as it was though, the Demon was beginning to feel just a tiny bit antsy. It wanted that boy quite badly right now.

It'll be a while before it could reconstruct its temporary body again – it always had to be so careful with how it was crafted lest even its temporary body accidentally destroy the world simply by existing – but that didn't mean it was without options.

The connection, finicky as it was, between it and the boy partially worked both ways, not that the boy seemed aware of it.

Its flashes of insight extended to more than just this universe that the humans reside in. These flashes of insight have extended to what dwelled within the other dimensions, both parallel and higher/lower that made up this creation, though said flashes have become less and less ever since it anchored itself specifically to this one.

Some of the knowledge of what resided in these other dimensions had seemingly transmitted to the boy during his early youth, particularly during his sleep. What he'd thought to be nightmares brought on by an overactive imagination had simply been his mind struggling to comprehend what else lurked out in the great unknown as humans liked to call it.

The creatures that had then been unintentionally created when it had first tried to step foot onto the human's world had been the result of their connection acting up, the boy's mind unconsciously spitting out pale imitations of the real deals, imitations that lacked the minds and memories of the real ones, hence why they all unknowingly acknowledged both the Demon and the boy as their creators when the truth was far different.

The only exception here was this 'zombie' thing – that was definitely the boys imagination, an aspect of it that had somehow ended up attached to the imitations they'd unwittingly made, which had then resulted in the world's current situation.

No matter, the boy and now the boy alone had its protection. Regardless of what happened to him physically, he would live. Not even this zombie virus will kill him so long as the Demon wills it.

But it was digressing a bit.

Those imitations seemed to favor it more than the boy, perhaps due to it being what it is. Perhaps it could use the connection between itself and the boy to try reaching out to these monsters?

…

…

…

…

…

…

…Ah.

There it goes.

The Demon was now in nearly direct communication with every single imitation in the world.

It was quick to issue one order and one order only:

 _ **TRAVEL TO HIS HOME… AND TEAR DOWN THAT BARRIER.**_

The order issued, the Demon could immediately detect each and every monster swiftly moving to obey it.

Its very existence rumbled, feeling pleased.

The barrier that woman had put up had been severely damaged by the blow its temporary body had struck it with. Combined with her waning strength, it shouldn't take long at all under the monster's incoming assault to bring it down for good.

By then, it should be able to reconstruct its temporary body for the final time and claim the boy amidst that chaos.

And then… then its journey will truly begin.

* * *

 **Okay, so hopefully this will clear up a lot of the remaining questions you guys have… save for one: how will the group stop the Demon. And to that, heh, well, I can't say anything at all. But I will say what'll be coming up next will be a lot of fun for me to write, if nothing else. Hope it'll be just as fun for you guys to read.**

 **And if you have any other questions, again, PM me or leave it in your reviews and I'll try to answer to the best of my ability.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	19. Chapter 19

**TheDarkHollow,** as always, thank you for the support! Yeah, I'm sure things will change in the future. And in turn, I hope that whatever aspirations you have are going great for you too!

 **X59,** glad you liked the chapter! If you have any other questions, I'm sure future chapters will answer them in due time, considering the pace I seem to be writing them, ha ha.

Also, regarding Iroha, she does acknowledge what she's done, but the reason why she was so defensive against Kiriko is again due to her predicament – she's stuck between what she truly wants to do (loving and caring for her son openly) and what's been pretty much ingrained in her since birth (her 'duty' to ensure the Demon never returns). It's a case of nature vs. nurture and unfortunately, she's been conditioned since birth to pretty much fear the Demon and anything related to its return, which unfortunately includes her son, hence her entire situation to start with.

However, her love for him is still there, manifesting as super small gestures of affection, if they can be called that, and she does want to protect him. Sadly, the very fact Takashi was even born kind of fucked the world over from the get-go, so her efforts are in vain.

 **Joker wx,** glad to hear! Hope what's coming up next will really blow you and others away!

Again, not much else to say other than still going through the hiring process for that job I mentioned in the previous chapter's opening AN. Hopefully within the next few months, I'll be hired if I can stick to this.

Well, I did see The Predator too. Have to say that as cheesy as the ending was, it was a pretty good movie overall. Very reminiscent of 80s action flicks and definitely unapologetic about it. Political incorrectness was certainly present in the movie but was so over the top in how it was presented, I actually found it funny for the most part, heh. And damn, that Ultimate Predator took a lot to go down!

Now then, let's get started!

Chapter 19

All around the world, the monsters given form by both Takashi Komuro and the Demon stirred. They'd received the Demon's order and as soon as they did, they all had ceased in their current actions immediately right before slowly beginning to turn around, their target's location being transmitted into their minds.

They all started slow at first… but as seconds turned to minutes, they all began to gradually speed up.

Their own emotional states, at least what passed for emotions for them, also shifted, having initially been in a haze of sorts following the Demon's communion with them only to now shift to dark glee.

All of them were instinctively eager to meet the other one who'd 'birthed' them.

And so, all the world over, a mass exodus occurred.

Their destination: Japan.

* * *

Shizuka grimaced in pain. That blow she'd taken for Komuro-kun had really hurt a lot. She was honestly amazed she hadn't suffered anything worse than a massive bruise and cut.

Her luck in surviving, however, did little to cheer her up and she could tell the others weren't looking all that peppy either.

Even if they all had the excuse of being injured and exhausted, being smacked aside by that monster so easily while it had remained almost entirely focused on Komuro-kun had been more than a little eye-opening.

Whatever confidence they may have built up just for surviving this long, including Komuro-kun's victory over the 'doggy' was pretty much shattered now.

Personally though, Shizuka didn't mind it all that much – she never was a fighter and never will be, just wasn't in her to be such a person – though she'd be lying if she said it hadn't left her a little shaken.

They all could've been killed if that monster had actually bothered taking them more seriously.

Not to mention that it had essentially taken Komuro-kun hostage for a moment or two, at least until the teen's mother had used her ability to kill it by essentially creating a contradiction within the barrier… or so the explanation went.

And on that note…

"How is she?" Kiriko-san asked her.

"She's fine, just exhausted," Shizuka answered.

Currently, they were back inside the same house from earlier, where they all had been resting up for the most part. Now lying on the couch was none other than Iroha-san, who'd collapsed following the death of that fog monster.

"The strain of the barrier is finally getting to her…" mumbled a worried Takeru-san, the man looking worried for his wife.

Ah, yes, the barrier. If only she had such an ability herself… then perhaps she'd finally be able to keep the others from being hurt ever again, keep them safe and healthy…

Shizuka gave a slight shake of the head. She was letting herself get wrapped up in other thoughts here. She couldn't afford to do that, not when others will count on her when things get rough again.

Standing up, she inwardly sighed, her back all but literally creaking from where she'd slammed into the wall earlier when that monster hit her. That was going to hurt for a while. Even with some handmade ointment, she was pretty sure there was a nasty bruise already there under her clothes.

Still, she was by far the least injured of the group overall, with only Alice-chan and Kyouko-chan being roughly as unhurt as her. Saya-chan too.

"If you'll excuse me," she began. "I think I'll go check on the others."

Both Kiriko-san and Takeru-san nodded in understanding and remained by Iroha-san's side while Shizuka turned to leave… though not before the busty nurse shot the unconscious woman an almost longing look, unable to keep herself from wondering what it'd be like to have such a handy power like what she had.

Exiting the home, the first thing Shizuka saw was the others there, just sitting around the front porch. They all looked as if they'd been waiting for her.

"How is she?" asked Komuro-kun, trying to come off as gruff, though there was no mistaking the undertone of concern in his voice.

Shizuka almost smiled. Looks like even with the estranged relationship between him and his mother, he still cared to some extent. An instinctive thing perhaps?

"She's okay, relatively speaking. It just looks as if using her power so much is finally taking a serious toll on her," she explained. "For now, she just needs to sleep and recover a bit."

Komuro-kun nodded, unconsciously rubbing his neck where the monster had had its arm wrapped around it in a chokehold.

As if on autopilot, Shizuka stepped forth and gently moved his hand aside. Uncaring of his surprised expression, she clinically inspected his neck, making sure the monster hadn't tried anything unorthodox there, like some secret tendril to stab him with or whatever. With how unnatural these monsters are, anything could happen.

"Uh, Shizuka…?" the boy in question mumbled. "You're kind of a little too close…"

His words snapped her out of her current state and she realized just how close she'd gotten to him to look, her huge breasts having been mashing themselves against his torso.

With a light blush, she backed off. "Sorry, just making sure you're alright," she said quickly. She then turned to the others. "How about you, Rei-chan? Saeko-chan? Alice-chan? Any new injuries?"

Although the hit from the monster had been strong enough to nearly KO her, she'd still be just conscious enough at the time to take note of it having thrown Rei-chan back into Alice-chan along with it knocking Saeko-chan away a moment later at the time.

The three girls took a few seconds to look themselves over, Kyouko-chan who was nearby also looking over Alice-chan to double check.

In the end, all three girls shook their heads. "No, we're okay for the most part… aside from damaged pride," Rei-chan said rather bitterly, one of her hands balling into a fist.

Saeko-chan, normally so stoic, looked displeased too. "I know we're all quite hurt already, but to think we'd be knocked aside so easily like that… purely as a warrior, I feel affronted."

Shizuka could only nod. Again, she'd seen the expressions on their faces earlier to notice this. Still, to hear them say it aloud hurt her.

One would think simply surviving this long, either by luck or skill or both, would be a call for minor celebration, but these two girls seemed to be taking this pretty seriously.

Given her own thoughts on the matter, while she couldn't directly empathize with the whole 'warrior spirit' thing, she could still very much understand their frustration considering her thoughts not even a minute ago about Iroha-san's power.

"I guess all we can do is just try to do better next time," Hirano-kun suddenly said, having been placed in a chair on the porch to rest.

Shizuka and the others couldn't help but look at him in surprise. Out of them all, he clearly suffered the worst injuries. By all rights, if anyone can be said to have a true right to be bitter, it'd be him right now.

However, rather than join in on this little self-pity fest, he stated a rather optimistic thing in a quiet yet determined voice.

With all eyes on him now, the glasses wearing teen smiled a little sheepishly. "Okay sure, the monster ragdolled you pretty easily… but it's not like we haven't survived worse up until now. And personally, I'm just glad to still be alive in all this shit. That ought to count for something, right?"

"But…" began Saya-chan, oddly uncertain of herself. "Porker… your legs…"

"Are gone," Hirano-kun finished for her in a firm voice. "And it sucks. It really does. Hurts like hell too, even with the pain killers and ointment and bandages. But still, I'm alive and better to be alive than dead. And I don't need legs to shoot a gun."

He sighed. "Now, I know you two think differently since you've been trained in this martial arts stuff for a long time," he continued, looking to Rei-chan and Saeko-chan. "I know you have your 'warrior's spirit' or whatever the term is, but isn't there also a thing about there being no such thing as losing unless you die or at least admit defeat? In which case, as survivors, you both came out as winners so far. You want to keep on 'winning?' Then just learn how to keep on surviving and adapt to the hand you were dealt. It's what I intend to do and so should you."

Now seemingly done talking, the gun otaku crossed his arms over his chest and sort of leaned back in the chair, a small smirk on his face.

Everyone else there could only stare in shock, having not expected him to give a brief lecture like that, especially not to Rei-chan and Saeko-chan, both of whom were headstrong in their own ways in Shizuka's humble opinion.

But after a moment, both girls glanced towards each other and shared a light smile.

"I suppose you're right, Hirano-kun," Saeko-chan said. "Still, it's rather frustrating not being able to properly fight. I've either gone against hordes of zombies thus far or against monsters that my usual techniques are ill-suited to fight against. And now… my sword is broken. I'm without a weapon."

"Same," Rei-chan muttered. "All the makeshift weapons I've had my hands on always end up smacked aside or destroyed. Not to mention it's not exactly easy to just adjust my techniques for use against literally the stuff of nightmares."

Nearby Saya-chan huffed. "Well, it's not as if adapting had ever been easy for anyone. All you can do is just roll with it. Nice speech by the way, geek." She was smiling a bit, looking impressed.

Hirano-kun blushed in embarrassment. "I had to rehearse it a bit in my head before saying it… can't believe I actually pulled it off."

Rei-chan snickered. "Well, it helped. Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Hirano-kun smiled.

"…Well, I think you'll be able to try adapting to all this very soon," Kyouko-chan said out of the blue. "Look…"

She pointed a finger and they all turned to see what was going on.

There, past the barrier, they could see a handful of creatures that were most definitely not human appear near the end of the street leading to here. And in the air above the barrier, they could hear the sounds of flapping wings and shrill cries.

"What the fuck?" Komuro-kun muttered, aptly summing up everyone's thoughts.

From seemingly out of nowhere, monsters began to gather, howling and shrieking in ways that drew the attention of the undead that had been wandering the areas outside this neighborhood.

All the people that had remained outside in case of another monster attack were now quickly running around, getting weapons ready after having tried to clean up the mess from earlier. And out of paranoia, they tried to drag out some stuff to make barricades with, their faith in the barrier Iroha-san made having taken a significant blow since that Demon struck it.

Even so, as ready as they all looked to fight, Shizuka could see how shocked and scared they were by this sudden enemy force forming up outside the barrier.

All the monsters, however, seemed to not pay this any mind. Instead, all of the ones Shizuka could see seemed to have their eyes locked on the exact same target-.

Komuro-kun.

This was something that didn't go unnoticed by the boy himself or the others, who all shared a questioning look.

But their questions would have to wait. Hirano-kun's speech naturally fresh in their minds, Shizuka watched as Rei-chan and Saeko-chan rushed away to find something to use as weapons. Even Kyouko-chan and Saya-chan and Alice-chan scrambled away with the intention of looking for something to use defensively.

And as soon as everyone dashed away to arm themselves, the monsters roared in unison, deafening them all.

And then they finally attacked.

* * *

Rei felt justified for screaming when a veritable tidal wave of monsters and the undead slammed into the barrier. With everything that's been going on within such a short time frame, she felt like she was owed at least this much.

It was rather cathartic, really, but didn't do much in the long run obviously.

As it is, all she could do was continue to gape alongside the others at just how many things were out there.

Monsters of all kinds, ranging from grotesque squid-like ones to ones that looked like hellish chimeras of several animals and insects and more just pounded on the barrier with everything they had, the undead in all their nightmarish glory seemingly assisting as they screamed and clawed and gnawed at the sole defense keeping them out.

Then gunfire erupted and snapped Rei out of her reverie and she turned to see the group of people that had armed themselves had finally opened fire, shooting with almost reckless abandon into the growing crowd.

She also just realized her mom had just rushed out of the house here to take charge.

"Don't shoot randomly! Control your bursts!" she roared in order to be heard over the gunfire and screaming as she reached out for an assault rifle someone ran up to provide her with. "Aim for the monsters, the zombies can wait until later!"

"Mom!" Rei didn't know why she called out to her. Certainly, she was concerned for her mother's safety even with the barrier up and more than worried for plenty of other things – how was Takashi doing right now? She almost wanted to drag him aside and ask – but calling out to her like this would only be distracting.

But even so… having called out, all she could do was follow up.

She dashed up to her, careful not to get in the way of the others. She was only marginally aware of her own actions grabbing the attention of the others and prompting them to run after her.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked of her mother.

Before said woman could take a moment to say anything, a shift in the sound of the roaring occurred and the two Miyamotos looked up to see some flying monsters pecking violently at the very top of the barrier while some circled around to the back of the barrier, where the backyards of the homes were at.

"-If you can, try and hold the fort down on the other side!" Her mom said, visibly seething over how the monsters were literally coming at them from all sides. "And if you can, lend my daughter a hand with this too!" This time, her words were directed to the others behind her.

And when Rei turned to see them all nod in automatic agreement to her mom's request, she couldn't help but feel her confidence be boosted a bit.

Even if the situation was the very definition of unfavorable, even if they likely had no chance of coming out alive this time around… at least she'd be going down with the people that have been by her side this entire time.

Though she certainly wouldn't deny wanting some way of properly combating all these damned things. Guns and whatever melee weapons they could find will only do so much. Especially against the monsters.

…Especially the big one that was now quickly coming their way from up above.

"Holy shit!" someone exclaimed above the roar of gunfire and monsters.

Some entity composed entirely of flames and easily bigger than any house and even other buildings has appeared, its very presence seemingly generating a heat unlike anything Rei's ever seen.

It levitated high above the barrier's very top and its form glowed for a millisecond before firing what could only be described as a blast of pure energy downwards.

It impacted against the top of the barrier with tremendous force, instantly incinerating the flying and crawling monsters that had been up there. Clearly, this monster – the Fire Man, if she recalled right from those drawings – didn't care much for its 'allies' getting caught in the crossfire.

The monster's attack ended and she and likely everyone else could feel its very gaze upon them, the monster seemingly put-off by the barrier's resistance. Its very form then seemed to glow brighter and it fired another blast.

And another one. And another one.

"Shit, what's up with these things…" Rei heard her mom mumble. "Just keep firing! Remember, controlled bursts! We need to make every bullet count!"

She turned to Rei. "Rei, please, hurry!"

"R-Right!"

Allowing herself to be distracted long enough, Rei turned and went dashing for the nearest house, specifically hers. She owned her own bayonet, something her dad had gotten her long ago when she first took up boujutsu. Obviously, it wasn't something she could just go around practicing with all willy-nilly, but now was no better time to put it to use.

The monsters couldn't get through the barrier nor could the undead. But she and the others can and so can their weapons and bullets. That meant in theory she should be able to just stab away with having to worry much about being struck, so long as the barrier holds up, that is.

Grabbing her weapon as quickly as she could – hard to do considering how beat up she still was, even if adrenaline helped keep her mind off the pain – she ran back out to regroup with the others, but not before making a quick stop by her kitchen.

"Here!" She said as she motioned for the others to finally follow her along with a few other people to head for the back. She'd brought along the biggest damn knife she could find, more akin to a dagger than anything else. She handed it to Busujima. "You're going to need this a lot, I think."

The girl's eyes widened a bit in surprise, but swiftly regained her composure and nodded in thanks.

Rei spared a glance at the others, seeing what they'd been doing during the brief time she'd been inside the house. They'd clearly spent that brief moment well – Hirano-kun had pried an assault rifle and shotgun off someone and handed the latter to a somewhat bewildered Takashi as he gave him a crash course in wielding a gun. Saya, Shizuka, Hayashi-sensei and Alice, being noncombatants, merely rounded up as much ammo and grenades as they could physically carry, intending on being there alongside the others to support them in their own little ways. And Shizuka was carrying a bag of new supplies too, first aid just to play things safe.

Nodding to them upon getting their attention, they all then made their way to the nearest backyard, Takashi taking the lead by way of smashing down the gate with a shoulder ram and then fanning out alongside some other people that had been sent by her mom to cover the back of the barrier too.

Sure enough, there were plenty of monsters and zombies everywhere. Some of the monsters here looked like centipedes, only far larger and longer, easily as thick as a car and longer than buses, with extra pinchers and more.

As for the zombies…

Rei tried not to gag upon finally getting a good look at the state they seemed to be in.

While far from as hellish as the monsters were in appearance, the zombies certainly looked unearthly, most of them having rapidly decaying skin that was split open in many areas, inexplicably watery looking muscles visible in these skin openings. Hair was falling out along with eyes and teeth, but no blood, the zombies apparently having no more blood to leak out of their hideous wounds.

Honestly, calling them zombies may be a very liberal action now. Indeed, it might just be better to consider them monsters just like the real ones more than anything else.

In a way, this was kind of a good thing. It'd always felt bad to her to fight off these zombies, knowing that they'd once been living people. But seeing them in this wretched state really helped dehumanize them that much more, made it a bit easier on her heart to begin the fight.

And begin she did.

With her own little battle cry, Rei ran forward and began her attack.

* * *

Kyouko watched in almost detached amazement at just how quickly everyone sprung into action. Here they were in a situation far worse than any they've been in before and after having so many bombshells dropped on them such as the truth of Komuro-kun's surprising strength and the nature of that… that Demon.

Yet not a second was wasted in their actions.

Miyamoto-san and Busujima-san were the first to make a move, running forward and expertly stabbing away, trying to target the zombies through the barrier for they were really the only enemies they could reasonably kill with the weapons they had.

She watched as Miyamoto-san used her bayonet to stab just deep enough into the skull of what had once been a young boy to kill it before pulling back and slashing at the neck of another zombie that had once been an older woman, decapitating it.

Nearby, Busujima-san was, to use a phrase some teens liked to use, going to town on her foes. Unlike Miyamoto-san, who favored safety and precise strikes to kill the zombies, the swordswoman of the group was a whirlwind of chaos, boldly moving in and out of the barrier and thereby risking being grabbed and attacked in order to land graceful yet surprisingly powerful strikes with the large knife she'd been given. Heads went flying and literally rolled across the ground only to be smashed underfoot as more zombies swarmed all around the neighborhood.

But Busujima-san seemed undeterred. In fact, it almost looked as if she was enjoying the onslaught, a dark and focused look in her eyes that kind of put Kyouko on edge. But she tried to shrug off the unease, chalking it up to the young woman's venting of frustration.

Meanwhile, just some odd feet away from her was Hirano-kun. She and another person had helped him into a nearby lawn chair that had then been positioned to face the growing horde. With assault rifle in hand, Hirano-kun didn't so much as utter a peep as he unleashed one burst after another of bullets, aiming not at the zombies but at the monsters that crowded around.

He specifically went for that terrifying centipede-like monster, his shots piercing its armor-like carapace, but not enough to do much more than piss it off that much more.

Takagi-san remained nearby, holding many clips of ammo to hand to him as needed, the pinkette's steelish gaze never wavering as she looked forward to observe the action, clearly trying to figure out if there was any other way to help.

A little further away was the small group of people Kiriko-san had sent back here to assist them, all of them unloading bullet after bullet into the crowd, specifically at another monster nearby, one that seemed like a mish-mash of tentacles more than anything else, roughly the size of a gorilla. It took a lot of bullets, but Kyouko watched in amazement as the concentrated effort brought it down a moment later, the monster letting out a shrill and piercing death cry as it fell and was promptly crushed by another monster, much bigger than it, as it rammed a huge and muscular shoulder into the barrier, causing a ripple in it.

That was when she spotted Komuro-kun seemingly enter the fray.

There was an expression of barely suppressed rage in his eyes, a rage great enough to make her shudder. However, she was more than understanding, given the revelations he'd been hit with just a little earlier.

The rage showed in his actions, him putting the pointers Hirano-kun had given him moments ago to good use as he blasted away with the shotgun. His movements when handling it were a bit awkward at first, but after several shots, he seemed to adjust and, to her amateurish eyes, began to handle it like a pro.

Komuro-kun even stomped forward a bit, getting as close as he could to blast large holes into the sole eye of that centipede monster, sending what looked like brown puss spewing everywhere. It roared in genuine pain this time and thrashed around, crushing plenty of zombies under its massive body in the process, leaving them left as nothing more than mulch.

It even knocked some of the other esoteric monsters down too, though not killing the bigger ones, likely due to them just being that tough and whatnot.

But then the centipede looking monster regained its wits and scurried away at a speed no creature that big had a right to move at.

Kyouko squinted her eyes as she watched it scurry down the street… and then turn around.

Her eyes widened, knowing what was coming next.

"Move!" she screamed to both Miyamoto-san and Busujima-san, who were probably the most at risk right now.

They heard her over the roar of gunfire and promptly backed away, just in time for the centipede monster to charge and slam head-first into the barrier, its own body coiling about in the process from just how fast and hard it had done this.

The entire barrier on this side seemed to shake and shudder and for a second, Kyouko genuinely worried it would break.

But a second later, the shaking stopped and the only result that had come out of this was the monster having apparently nearly knocked itself out.

Kyouko let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, just grateful to know the end wasn't quite upon them all just yet.

And then what felt like the entire world began to violently shake and nearly break apart beneath her very feet.

* * *

Lying there on the couch was Iroha, who only now was beginning to wake up. As exhausted as she was, she was quick to note that Kiriko and her husband weren't there by her side. In all likelihood, both had gone outside to fight the forces gathering outside the barrier.

Speaking of which, that was actually the reason why she'd woken up just now.

For her instincts had demanded she spring into action by way of reinforcing the barrier as much as possible.

But perhaps she'd been just a split second too late in doing so as the entire world felt like it'd shatter apart under her.

"Oh no…" she whispered in horror.

The biggest of the monsters were finally making their move.

* * *

Out in the Atlantic Ocean, the very same monster that had shrugged off those nukes like nothing had stirred.

Much like its far smaller brethren, it had received the command from the Demon too, but it wasn't until now that it had finally been able to fully wake itself up from its extremely deep slumber.

And it could sense its fellow titan-esque monsters begin their own move too.

So, it was really quite natural that it shouldn't be leaving itself out like this.

Swerving with a speed that didn't sit its ridiculously massive size, the monster then lunged forth in the water, proceeding to smash through the _entirety_ of Europe and the northern parts of Asia and southern parts of Russia as it made its way towards the home where its other creator, the boy, resided in.

The Demon wanted that barrier brought down for its eventual return?

Very well, it shall do so with great pleasure.

And a moment or two later, it was upon its target.

* * *

In Canada resided yet another monster, one in the same league as the massive one in the water. Much like its titan-like compatriot, this monster too was a rather docile one, only really attacking if someone or multiple people had been foolish enough to attack it.

Said people could be counted on just the one hand, for its size alone had been more than enough of a deterrence to keep the puny humans from attacking it, after it had reduced all the populated areas in this country to nothing.

Having been sitting down the entire time since then, it finally stood, its height just a bit more than 2,000 feet. Possessing a physique similar to a humans but one made out of what looked like molten rock, complete with its very head possessing multiple curved horns and a skeletal smile, it wouldn't be wrong to say this monster was not unlike some kind of deathly giant, meant to bring judgement down on all who'd oppose it.

And it'd been given the order to bring down the barrier that served as the only obstacle in between the Demon and its target, the boy. The Demon had weakened the barrier drastically with its mighty blow and now it was up to it and its remaining monsters to finish the job.

Somehow, its grin seemed to grow and its misshapen hands began to morph in a most disgusting fashion, breaking apart and pulling themselves back together in a different form, now resembling small broadswords, small, of course, being relative to the giant's own size.

Armed and ready, the monster stepped forth, ready to end this world if that's what it took for its creator to obtain what it wanted.

Marching southwest, its giant steps clearing entire stretches of land with great speed and ease, the giant began to pick up its pace.

The finale was nearly here. And it would be most honored to be a part of it.

* * *

In Antarctica, there lied a monster that was the final member of the titan-like ones.

Unlike its two brethren, who slaughtered any and all dumb enough to disturb them, this one was truly a docile one, content to simply exist and do nothing unless needed.

And now it was needed – the Demon had commanded it venture to the place its other creator resided in and bring down that barrier alongside the other monsters.

As content as it was to simply rest on this landmass, it knew far better than to go against the Demon's order.

With a groan that seemed to reach around the entire world, the monster got up and shook its head before lifting up its four thick and muscular arms.

Finishing its little stretch, the vaguely reptilian and definitely alien looking monster took a few steps forward with its six crab-like legs, its several tails whipping around slowly, each one as thick as a mountain if not more so.

Of the three titan-sized monsters, it was possibly the shortest when in its current position, but should it try to extend itself upwards by standing on the very tips of its legs, it could easily rival the giant's height. Though in terms of pure brute strength, it was easily the strongest of the three, as made evident by the thick musculature of its entire body despite it being so flexible too when need be.

Letting out a roar as it began to journey forth, the monster's tails whipped around now much more animatedly, each and every motion generating enough force to part clouds for tens of miles with absolute ease.

Girding itself mildly, the monster somehow managed to _jump_ , launching itself from the coast of Antarctica and landed in the Indian ocean, its landing resulting in earthquakes and massive tsunamis that devastated the nearby landmasses. Due to its relative proximity to Australia, the entire continent was completely wiped out as the earthquakes tore it apart while the tsunamis made sure these now broken up chunks were swallowed whole underwater.

The monster, docile it may be, was never one to pass up such fun, however, sneering at what it had caused with its simple action, its reptilian face somehow managing such an expression despite not appearing to have the proper muscles needed to even perform it.

The monster was then aware of its largest brethren, the Leviathan, being extremely close by as it smashed through the landmasses to reach their destination.

Not wanting to be outdone, the multi-legged monster dashed forth on all six of its legs, eager to see which of them would reach their target first.

Finally, it was time to truly have some fun.

* * *

 **Apologies for the short chapter, but given how it ultimately ended, writing anymore for this one may come across as a rush. And with these three gigantic ones now coming the group's way, I want to make sure I take some time to demonstrate their power much more in a proper fashion. Because of this, think of this chapter as more of a set-up than anything else.**

 **But man, if I was one to title chapters, I'd probably title this one 'when it rains, it fucking pours' or 'when things look bad, they'll get even worse' or something along those lines, ha ha. But really, this should've been pretty obvious since the Demon did command _every_ monster to attack that barrier.**

 **Speaking of which, yes, the barrier really is that tough to warrant these three attacking all at once. After all, it did endure an attack from the Demon's temporary body, which is far stronger than any monster, even if it did damage the barrier.**

 **Not going to lie either, got influenced a lot by some designs from Fate Grand Order and the new animated Godzilla movies for the sheer ridiculous size and power of these three monsters, hence why they seem so over the top in size and stuff.**

 **But as crazy as things might be now, it won't hold a candle to what's coming up soon, ha ha! Expect some true craziness to be starting up as this fic reaches its climax!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	20. Chapter 20

After seeing the TGS trailer for DMC5, I can say quite confidently that my hype for the game grows by the second! The whole issue with the song itself (and by extension, the controversy with the band) aside, the song worked pretty well with the trailer. But then again, the trailer was about Dante, ha ha ha. And damn, glad to see he hasn't missed a beat since the last time the fans last saw him in a DMC game. Seriously, shaving his face with the enemy's bladed shell? Awesome shit, no question about it!

And the new moves shown off in the trailer along with that boss fight glimpse… god, I really am planning to get a PS4 now just to play it!

Heh, well, my hype aside, glad you liked the last chapter, guys! And this chapter will naturally be addressing some of the questions you asked in your reviews. As usually, hope the answers and the way they're presented will please you!

And **TheDarkHollow** , no worries, man, life comes first. Hope school is going well for you!

Chapter 20

The world was ending. There was just no other way for Kohta to put it.

The ground shook and broke apart like dried up playdoh and the very sky itself seemed to just be rend asunder by something.

All around him, Kohta was aware of the others doing their best to remain on their feet, to no avail, being literally thrown about and onto the ground from the force. Kohta himself was sent flying from the chair he'd been placed in and ended up smashing against the back of the house here quite violently.

He cried out in pain from just how hard he hit it but did his best to try and focus through it, something that proved hard to do with how much the ground continued to shake.

No way this was an earthquake. It was far too sudden and much too powerful. It was something else…

But what?

He got his answer a second later when he looked out, past the barrier, and saw a mass so enormous as to make mountains look tiny in comparison suddenly come their way.

His breath caught in his throat at the sight as said mass, big enough to block out whatever light the moon provided, moved at terrifying speeds.

And then a few seconds later, it impacted against the barrier.

If the ground had been shaking violently before, then this truly must be how it feels like if the entire planet were to explode or something.

The instant the mass collided with the barrier, the barrier seemed to glow like the sun in response and everyone inside was sent careening into the house or bushes nearby as if struck by a bus.

Kohta ended up smashing against the house again with enough violent force to reopen some other wounds he'd had from before.

He fell to the ground, heavily disoriented, only to start making a hasty recovery when the titanic mass struck again, with somewhat lesser force this time around.

Then the mass groaned out, a sound so loud that even when he tried to cover his ears, it still felt like his head would pop from the volume.

Disoriented again from near-deafness, Kohta nonetheless tried to look forward and comprehend what he was now seeing.

The mass retreated significantly, no doubt intending to ram the barrier. Although quite a terrifying thought, it gave him just enough of a reprieve to get a really good look at it now.

And his heart felt like it was going a trillion miles a minute.

"What. The. FUCK?!" he shouted.

It was a monster, no doubt about that. Only far bigger, much, much, MUCH bigger.

And the area outside the barrier… oh shit balls, what had happened?! There was nothing there anymore! No more of the smaller monsters or zombies. No more houses or streets or anything, just gigantic pieces of rubble that had once been land…

And now… all that appeared left as the monster began its charge yet again was just water. _Ocean_ water.

This fucking thing was so big that it literally seemed to break the entire land and let in ocean water!

Unable to do anything but gape now, all he could do was just watch as the monster, far too big for him to even see its face properly let alone how truly big it was, charged once more.

It struck the barrier for a third time…

And for a third time, it felt like the world was breaking in two underneath him.

* * *

Iroha, much like everyone else, had been thrown quite violently when the monster had struck.

But thanks to her lineage, she was noticeably sturdier than a normal person and so she was already up and at it. That isn't to say she was unhurt, however, for it felt like her entire body was one big bruise right now.

However, adrenaline was doing wonders for her and so she was able to rush out of the house just as the monster struck the barrier a third time.

Iroha was flung from the porch a solid several meters and landed hard in the streets, scrapping her face and breasts in the process as she hit it front-first.

Ignoring the blood that now dripped from her wounds, she was able to get up as the monster let out another moan, one of mild annoyance and then retreated at a startling speed.

The Leviathan. That was the name of this monster and it certainly more than lived up to said name in terms of size alone.

But she could content herself with knowing that it would be unable to break the barrier… on its own, that is.

She didn't have to look to know that the rest of Japan had most likely been utterly devastated from the titanic monster's ramming attacks. Indeed, this stretch of the neighborhood was only still intact thanks to the barrier not only keeping out anything she deemed threats, but also effectively cutting it off from the rest of the world.

This was a marginally good thing, for the rest of Japan in likelihood was nothing more than meager pieces of rubble sinking into the sea now. And the shockwaves generated from the Leviathan's attacks just now most likely wiped out a solid portion of the United States, assuming the country had even been in one piece still up until this point.

Sure enough, when she turned around to look past the barrier, she saw nothing but water and sinking rubble that had once been the city. As for the monsters and zombies from just moments ago, absolutely nothing remained of them; the very strength of the Leviathan's attacks had completely wiped them out along with most of the land, hence the relative lack of rubble.

Iroha shuddered. Truly, what terrifying strength.

However, the Demon's physical body was much stronger. And if her barrier could take a strike from it without completely breaking, then it should be able to weather the Leviathan's assault without too much trouble.

Even so…

"Takeru? Takashi?" she called out as she started to walk towards the backyards of the houses here. "Kiriko? Anyone?"

All the people up in the front here had been sent flying about and were in the midst of getting back on their feet right now. The same should hopefully apply to those in the back too… or so she was hoping.

However, just before she could even make it halfway to the nearest backyard, a soul-piercing roar was heard, freezing her in place, as did the sound of loudly swishing tails.

She pivoted on the spot with a surprising grace and speed for a woman of her generous figure and general temperament.

And there, now towering over the neighborhood by a ridiculous margin was yet another of the three titan monsters – the one simply known as the Colossus.

With its six crab-like legs, several thick tails, and an extremely muscular and reptilian-esque upper body that had four threatening arms, it certainly was a colossus in a number of ways.

And of the three titans, it also possessed the greatest physical strength.

Something that it now seemed keen to demonstrate for them all.

Iroha could only focus on the barrier, channeling every last bit of power she had into it, reinforcing it even further-.

And then the Colossus swung its fists down.

* * *

It was like a supernova going off.

That was the only way a somewhat disoriented Saya noted, covering up her eyes as the barrier above brightened to a blind degree when some massive thing struck it.

She tried to get up but found herself unable to. Not because her body was that hurt or anything, but simply because the sheer amount of power that struck downwards was outright preventing her from standing up.

It was as if gravity had just drastically increased or something.

But then the power gave way and it felt like she could breathe again.

Struggling to get up, Saya reached up with an unsteady hand to grip the closest thing to her to use as crutch. Even then, she still nearly stumbled and was ultimately forced down to the ground again when that same force reappeared.

It smashed her into the ground hard, nearly breaking her nose in the process. Very vaguely, she was a little thankful the initial attack had caused her to land on the grass because if she'd struck hard asphalt with this much force, she was pretty sure it wouldn't just be her nose at risk of breaking.

The force disappeared and then reappeared just as quickly – and another force struck the barrier from the side, not as strongly, but definitely far from weak. It felt like her body was torn between being flung to the side and remaining all but literally embedded in the ground.

It was only due to an irregular pause between the two forces that she was able to roll over and see just what the hell was even going on.

And quite naturally, her breath caught in her throat at the sights before here.

Monsters. Only two, but far bigger than anything she's ever seen before in her life.

Just where had they even come from?

But more importantly, will the barrier be able to hold out against them?

She, Saya Takagi, genius extraordinaire, genuinely prayed to whatever deities existed that the barrier would.

But reality, ever so harsh, was quick to crush whatever desperate hope she was feeling when she looked off into the distance….

…And saw _a third_ monster, equally huge, make its way over to them.

Its appearance was rather human-like save for the fact it seemed made out of molten rock. Satanic horns jutted out the side of its deathly skull head and its very hands seemed to be swords rather than actual hands.

Saya hyperventilated where she was on the ground. It was like looking up at death itself for some reason, its sword hands not unlike blades of judgement rather than blades used for pure violence.

And although it could've just been a cruel trick of the eyes, the monster seemed to stare right back at her.

It grinned.

Then it raised a hand… and swung.

* * *

The three titans, now all together for the first time in their brief existences, spared only a split second at the most to acknowledge one another.

And to come up with something akin to a pattern.

The Leviathan would strike first, to knock around and heavily disorient the people within the barrier. Then the Colossus would attack the barrier, its unmatched physical strength promptly pinning everyone down in their groggy states.

And then the Giant would smite with its blades in an attempt to genuinely slay them all, even though the barrier naturally prevented this from happening.

This was a pattern that swiftly grew repetitive, but was effective nonetheless as the three titans, concerned only with carrying out the Demon's will, kept on the pressure.

The Leviathan would ram its huge body against the enduring barrier, generating tsunamis each and every time. By this time around, the United States truly didn't exist anymore, the shockwaves and tsunamis carrying out there far. Its very size and constant movement to ram at full speed and strength ensured the destruction of whatever remained of Asia and Russia too.

The Colossus' repeated punches with its four arms was causing the ocean now all around them to part in a circle-like formation and steadily continue growing in size with each blow. The force of its strikes was such that the ocean floor was being hammered despite being so far down and it would only be a matter of time until enough of an opening was formed for the air pressure to reach the planet's core.

The Giant's vicious swings added to this, cutting the surrounding ocean apart at whatever angle it swung its blades at. Although physically the weakest of the three, that was only relatively speaking. As such, its powerful slashes would reach deep down, cutting up the ocean floor in ways that would take geological amounts of time to even remotely recover from.

Sometimes, the Giant would swing at an upwards angle, releasing air pressure that would travel great distances and end up splitting chunks off the Middle East and Africa, thereby ensuring no continent on the planet went untouched.

All around them, as the three kept on attacking, the world was steadily falling apart. Given enough time, there wouldn't even be a world left for them to stand on.

This was something the three acknowledged as being entirely likely yet they cared not. The titans had no issue surviving in a vacuum, though attacking the barrier, if it was still intact by then, would be an issue without any footing for them launch their blows properly.

But this was only a mild worry in the back of their minds. All that mattered was what was before them.

The barrier must be brought down at all costs.

As if spurned on by a literal force, the three titans' attacks grew even more relentless and powerful, their minds becoming so completely focused on their target that everything else simply fell to the wayside in comparison.

It was to the point where they cared not if they ended up striking each other by accident.

And sure enough, with every world-shaking ram, punch and slash that ensued, the three began to sport wounds little by little. The Leviathan and Colossus sported some bruises and cuts that leaked what could only be blood, drops of which that were bigger than entire city blocks, especially in the former's case given its size. The Giant probably was getting off the most lightly, with only bruises to show for its compatriots' efforts, though some of its otherwise startlingly graceful swings became much wilder, giving itself just minor cuts on its own legs, which were quite close to the barrier itself.

And all the while, the barrier and the people inside endured, pinned down by the monstrous forces that worked upon it, unable to even form a scream as the very atmosphere inside was taking a direct beating itself, just barely providing them with enough time and air to keep on breathing.

The titans rammed, punched, and slashed. The barrier endured.

The attacks seemingly grew stronger and ever more ferocious by the minute and the barrier still stood strong.

Minutes go by, the world sounding like it was breaking apart more and more the whole time.

Until finally… there was a pause.

The crack that had been present on the barrier when the Demon had struck had finally grown just a bit bigger, a little wider. Had any of the much smaller monsters still been left alive, it may now have been possible for such a creature to slip through it. Alas, the titan's size and constant attacks had wiped out everything else.

The widening crack served as motivation, however, and so the monsters decided to change things up.

The three shared a look, silently communicating what they wished to do.

And they were quick to enact it.

The one their master, the Demon, wanted would survive no matter what happened. As such, it shouldn't matter if they truly did go a bit overboard now, yes?

With this in mind, they put their bodies into action once more.

The Leviathan and Colossus suddenly moved away, kilometers away really, giving the Giant plenty of room to work with.

The Giant then planted its foot firmly under the barrier protected land and with nary a sound lifted the entirety of the intact land up, lightly sending high into the sky.

The Giant was then quick to move back, as far back as it could possibly get, for that was when the other two now charged forth at a speed they had no right to be moving at.

The Colossus leapt as did the Leviathan, managing to lift itself out of the water a fair bit.

The Colossus launched simultaneous blows with all four of its limbs against one side of the barrier while the Leviathan rammed against the other side.

The sheer force of the collision put everything else up until this point to shame, parting the ocean all around the planet… as well as cracking the apart the sky and planet itself halfway.

Unnatural storms now formed without clouds to even work with and a great heat along with magma rose up from the split open sea floor.

As for the land within the barrier, one of the few pieces of land even remotely still around now, it was still fine as were the people within… for the most part.

Nonetheless, it was sent flying at an odd angle, moving at a great speed before finally landing amidst the somewhat floating, somewhat sinking land debris that had once been called Europe.

It tumbled about rather comically, the barrier somehow serving as something akin to a floating function for the small stretch of land.

Only now there were cracks all over the barrier, Iroha Komuro's mental strength having reached its limit as the cracks spread and grew in size more and more…

Until the barrier finally shattered.

* * *

The Demon felt the shift in the situation just seconds before it even happened.

Finally.

It was time.

* * *

Takashi gasped as consciousness returned to him.

Heavily disoriented but refusing to stay down, he tried to get up, had a hell of a time doing so. Having the neighborhood turned into a smacking ball by those three huge fucking monsters hadn't exactly been his definition of fun.

It was honestly amazing he was still in one piece, the Demon's 'protection' aside or not.

He finally stood – only to get knocked down by a fierce wave of ocean water.

Some of it got in his mouth and he immediately started choking and gasping before coughing it out. "Fuck!" he cried out as he finally realized the land was shaking quite violently.

As he got back up once more, careful to keep his footing, he looked around and saw what had become of the world around him…

…And it was a sight he had no words for at all.

This… this truly was the end of the world, isn't it? How could it possibly not be with the cloudless storms and chunks of land slowly sinking about?

Powerful emotions filled him, almost keeping him rooted in place, but his body didn't quite seem to be in a mood to listen to his mind or heart for he automatically moved on.

Rei… Saeko… Saya… Hirano and the others. He had to see if they'd made it through too.

"HEY!" he yelled out, trying to be heard over the fierce storms above, a damn hard thing to do with all the thunder and lightning going on. "ANYONE?! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?!"

He fought to keep his footing, but the rocking of the land was making that harder than it should ever be.

The others should be close by but given just how much rocking around they all had gone through, they could be somewhere within the houses or on the other side of the steadily sinking pseudo-island now.

Takashi's eyes glanced around wildly. He spotted some of the others that had been with them on the ground, either unconscious or in the process of getting up.

Looking through the broken window of near-collapsing house, he swore he could spot his neighbor Seto and a few others too…

…They didn't look too good.

Oh God, were bodies supposed to bend like that…?

He shook his head as an errant thought occurred to him, wondering if the others had ended up like that.

He cried out again, but this time a particularly loud moment of thunder completely drowned him out.

Takashi walked on, cursing himself and the Demon. If not for them, then none of this would've-!

"…Ah!"

His eyes went wide as he looked and spotted his parents nearby as he kept his pace going.

They'd been knocked to the side, seemingly smashed repeatedly against a nearby house and its bushes, judging by all the scrapes and bruises they had on them.

Both of them were alive.

"T-Takashi….?" He barely heard his mother slur out his name.

That was when he saw the nasty wound to the side of her head. Looks like at one point during the assault just moments ago, she'd hit her skull pretty hard.

And when he got a little closer, he ended up recoiling when his mom turned her head a bit.

She hadn't simply been struck in the head – a small wooden beam, likely from the wooden fence there, had been impaled near the upper back part of her skull.

"-Mom!"

Despite all the tension and discord between him and her, the instant the damage she'd suffered fully registered in his mind, he practically ran to her side, unmindful of the wounds he'd sustained from all the hits.

He spared just a brief glance to his dad, who was unconscious. The wounds he'd suffered from all the smacking around… it didn't look good. But he was far better off than his mom and so Takashi focused back on her.

"Aaaarrreeeee y-y-yoou okay?" Her words sounded dragged out and slurry still, with a stutter too.

"I-I-!" He didn't know how to respond to that. Just how could he while she had a fucking wooden beam buried inches into her head?!

"Iiiiii… I-I'm s-s-sorrryyyyy…." It was hard to tell given the circumstances, but it looked and sounded as if his mom was crying. She raised a shaky hand, groping at the air.

Shakily, Takashi reached out his own hand and grasped hers, unable to do anything but remain silent and in shock.

His mother's tears continued. "I-I-I c-c-oul-ul-d've been a beeetttteerrr m-m-mo-other!" she managed to finally say. Her grip on his hand tightened to a surprising degree. "I sh-sh-should've been! Sh-Shouldn't haaaavveeee beeeen s-so scared of th-th-the Demon!"

"Mom, please just stop," Takashi ended up saying quietly, not even remotely sure of what to do now. He was still recovering himself from all this shit and now here his mom was apologizing. "Just… just rest for now, okay?! Shizuka can take a look at you and fix you up!"

He was only vaguely aware that he'd started to cry too for some reason, unexplainable emotions welling up inside in direct response to his mother's words.

The one emotion that was recognizable to him, however, was the fear. Right here, in front of his very eyes, his mother was _dying_.

And all he could do was just fucking sit here and pray for a miracle that'll never come.

This in turn stoked his anger and reaffirmed his resolve. He had to at least try _something_.

"I-I'll be right back, okay?" he whispered out, hoping his mom could hear him. "Just let me find the others real quick and then we'll patch you and dad up as soon as-!"

He froze up, however, when a now very familiar presence suddenly appeared just several feet behind him.

His mother, even in her current state, was still just coherent and conscious enough to look and see what it was.

Her stuttered gasp of sheer terror only confirmed what Takashi now feared.

On instinct, the teen spun around as quickly as he could despite the constant shaking of the land he was on. He bellowed in rage and defiance and swung his fist in a backhand motion-.

-That was effortless stopped by a hand significantly larger than his own, belonging to something that was significantly taller and bigger than he was.

The Demon's temporary body.

Its eyes bore into his own, grasping the entirety of his attention without even actually doing anything.

Takashi could only remain literally frozen in place by forces beyond his understanding, only vaguely aware of his mother screaming at the Demon to leave him be.

And then the next thing he knew, the Demon walked forth until its very form overlapped his own somehow.

And then all he saw and knew was darkness.

* * *

Rei was the first to see what had happened.

Having been knocked around like that for what felt like so long, she and all the others were naturally in pretty bad shape, having been flung around all over the neighborhood when the barrier had finally gone down. Hell, Saya and Hayashi-sensei had nearly gone flying into the raging waters nearby.

It was only by dumb luck that Rei had perhaps been the closest and even dumber luck that she just happened to look up in time to see the Demon's temporary body appear from afar.

Such a sight had certainly helped her overcome her disorientation and pain pretty fast, but not fast enough – by the time she could even find it in her to scream out in shock and horror, the Demon's very form had overlapped Takashi's own…

And then the very spot where the two were at seemed to just… she wasn't really sure how to truly put it, but it looked as if space itself was collapsing in on itself.

Almost like… like some kind of black hole or something.

But she didn't know for sure. Or care at all, really. What she did care about was Takashi and his safety.

And so, against her better judgement, she was able to get up and run unsteadily towards the blackness – and ended up passing right through it.

She cried out, having not expected that and ended up tumbling hard against the grass as a result. Her back, having been in bad shape for more than a while now, felt like someone had cut it open and poured burning oil in it.

Even so, she managed to roll over quickly and looked up at the black hole in front of her, acting very much unlike a real one.

All she could do was glare at it, however, for if her failed tackle just now proved anything, interacting with it simply wasn't possible, no matter how badly she wished otherwise.

Alas, wishing for something will never get her anywhere.

Something… there just had to be something she could do though!

Hearing a groan, she nearly jumped and looked to the side, where Takashi's mom was lying at.

Rei nearly felt bile rise up inside her throat, horror filling her at the sight of the wooden beam stuck in the older woman's skull.

By all rights, she should be dead, but was still quite alive, though far from in good shape if the way she was slurring was anything to go by. Was this the heightened toughness she'd spoken of earlier during her explanation?

"T-Takashiiiiiiii…..!" the woman moaned out, pleading. She was reaching out a hand towards the blackness and tried to grasp it, with just as much success as Rei had had just a moment ago. Which was to say, none at all.

Some part of the woman's no doubt whacked out mind took a minute to recognize this fact and when she did, she began to really tear up and cry.

The sight hurt Rei to even watch. As estranged as the two had seemed to be, it was pretty clear that Mrs. Komuro cared a great deal for her son after all.

"H-Hold on," she tried to say softly over the noise made by the ocean all around them. "Let me help you up."

As much as she hated to admit, right now there was absolutely nothing that could be done about Takashi and the Demon, nothing at all; this was far beyond anything she and the others could handle.

But Mrs. Komuro… surely with her knowledge there may be _something_ that could be done here! Because like hell she'll just let the Demon have Takashi that easily.

But first, she had to get this woman some form of help. They all needed to regroup, try to patch up as best as possible and do a headcount. As crazy as this situation just kept on becoming, it was the only plan coming to mind for Rei, the only logical thing that _could_ be done in this crazy, crazy world.

She tried to pick up Mrs. Komuro from under the shoulder, but the older woman, far more voluptuous than her, weighed more too thanks to her generous endowments. And her own injuries and the woman's zoned out and semi-struggling state weren't helping.

Rei grunted in exertion, feeling tears fall down her face from a combination of the emotional burnout she was feeling in addition to the pain. After a moment, she was able to lift Mrs. Komuro up and eyed Mr. Komuro, who'd been unconscious until now, but now all the water splashing around was beginning to wake him up. Good, would hopefully save her just a bit of trouble in trying to figure out how to help him too.

"Come on…" she said gently to the still slurring and stumbling Mrs. Komuro. She then turned to Mr. Komruo, just still coming to. "I'll be back in just a minute…"

With that said, she painfully and slowly tried to walk away, trying to look for somewhere on this small stretch of intact land that was even remotely in one piece still, though not before eyeing the black hole scathingly, wishing once more to be capable of doing something about it.

Rei walked forth unsteadily, though she began to feel some sense of relief that in turn helped alleviate some of the tension that had almost literally been weighing her down as she saw the other members of her group along with some of the other people that had been here the whole time, slowly yet surely make a recovery.

She saw her mom helping Shizuka drag a woozy looking Hirano further away from the spots where the ocean waters were hitting heavily.

She spotted Saya and Hayashi-sensei finally regain their footing and help a soaking Alice stand up and rush off to somewhere a tad bit drier.

Busujima-san brought up the rear, the swordswoman having somehow managed to keep a hold of the knife she'd been given this whole time as she limped her way as far as she could from the edges of the land.

And there were others too, the neighbors and other survivors that her mom had been rescuing over the course of this apocalypse, pulling themselves up too… though Rei silently noted there were several missing as everyone pulled themselves out of the water and bushes and walls.

Slowly yet surely, they were all regaining their bearings.

But then just before any of them could even remotely begin to start thinking of what to do, a shift in the ocean around them occurred.

Everyone went still, even Rei and even Mrs. Komuro.

Then they all looked in the direction the shift in the ocean seemed to be coming from and promptly paled.

Far off in the distance, the three gigantic monsters that had broken the barrier were coming their way. Said three were approaching quite slowly, the two smaller ones walking at a rather leisurely pace while the biggest one swam at a veritable crawl.

But they all knew better.

With their immense size, their slowest and most casual of strides allowed them to cover distances far greater than what humans could conceivably cover in just a single step.

At the rate they were moving, it'd only be perhaps fifteen minutes or so before the monsters literally towered over them.

Rei's heartbeat picked up drastically in speed as the already hellish situation got even worse. Even if all of them were at their very best and armed with whatever weapon made them most comfortable, there was absolutely no way they could even remotely challenge one of those three monsters, let alone all three at the same time.

Just what in the hell were any of them to do?!

* * *

Through the connection it still had with the titans, the Demon could feel the three's intent to squash the remaining humans on that slowly sinking slab of land.

In doing so, all of humanity would be officially dead.

Something of a pity, really, but of little consequence. It still had the rest of the universe to explore, not to mention the other dimensions curled up around it in addition to the ones stacked above and below it too.

And now… it had the means to do just that.

There, right before it now was the boy it had long since sought, currently unconscious as he'd been dragged into the cracks between dimensions, where the Demon's true self had been stuck in this entire time.

The Demon couldn't help but feel what the humans would probably call giddiness, a sense of great anticipation welling up within it.

It now studied the boy critically, not because it was concerned about his relative safety – its protection of him had more than assured he'd survive in one piece, after all – but rather for the simple sake of sizing him up.

After all, this was to now be its body. It had to make sure that it would truly hold up once it completely entered.

Changes would naturally be made to said body, not because it necessarily wanted to make changes but merely as a side-effect of it taking over… but said changes shouldn't be anything too drastic, shouldn't be anything that would impede it in some way.

It'll be a 'tight fit' at first and the Demon held no doubt that it'd take quite some time for the body to fully adjust to it and vice versa… but growing pains were a common thing in this little creation, yes? Therefore, it had nothing to truly worry about.

Satisfied with its assessment of the boy, the Demon's entire shapeless form, well beyond the understanding and limits of anything related to dimensions, now began to coalesce… and slowly yet surely enter the boy's body.

It was time to take its first true step into this reality.

But first… it had to break the soul inside the body first… make it more… receptive to what was to come.

And so, the Demon focused.

* * *

Takashi dreamed a terrible dream whilst in his current state of unconsciousness.

The estranged relationship between him and his mother, the depression and insomnia and exhaustion that had plagued him for years on end, the failing relationships he's had with others and everything that's happened since the apocalypse began…

All of that had felt so real and now… now, it was beginning to less real, more along the lines of a truly terrible dream, the worst he's had yet.

Had it all truly happened? Or had it just been another horrific figment of his imagination?

He couldn't tell.

When that thing, the Demon had dragged him here – wherever the fuck 'here' was – everything that he'd once considered to be his reality now all seemed to bleed away from him in an instant, a process that had resulted in his current state.

And now, feeling as if he was floating in a genuine abyss, he shed small tears.

But were these tears even real too?

A part of him vehemently said yes, that these tears were as real as everything else that happened. But another part of him gently said no, it wasn't; he had nothing to be sad over for he'd had nothing to begin with.

And somehow, this gentle voice in his mind was winning over the more forceful one that said it was real.

This same gentle voice then told him to let it all go. Let go of the bad dreams and let himself fade away into the void, where he could finally be at true peace.

This was an idea that certainly didn't sound half-bad at all. Indeed, it felt… good.

Sure enough, Takashi felt himself slip away little by little.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…But.

But was this really what he wanted?

To slip away and cease to be?

 _Yes, it is. You can finally be at peace. No more horrors. No more exhaustion and pain. Sleep… and know rest for good._

…Right. That's right. Up until now, it's always been one fucked up thing after another for him. So much bad in his life, beating down on him until he was but a shell of how he used to be, back when he was a kid. And even then… there'd been how his mom had treated him, so even that brief period of blissful ignorance was tainted.

Best just to let it all go…

…

But was it really all bad?

…

…

…

…Rei.

That's right, Rei. The girl he'd fallen for as a kid way back then. The girl who'd later hurt him so badly by refusing to tell him what had been bothering her and ended up dating Hisashi just to partially spite him…

As well as eventually reconnect with him over the course of the past several days as they struggled to stay alive. Even if they hadn't had much time together during this time, he'd been able to feel it – a shift in the girl.

Things… things had been looking up.

And that went for Saya too. The pinkette may have been just as bossy and haughty and snappish as always yet even so, recently it felt like there was a level of genuine gratitude and more behind her words and actions, things that he didn't miss.

There was Saeko, with the calm and graceful smiles she gave him during their brief moments together, the sheer level of trust and respect she seemed to have for him no matter the situation. Not to mention just how fierce a fighter she is too, so strong and graceful in combat no matter how crazy things became. Truly someone that he liked and respected just as much as she liked and respected him.

Then there was Hirano and the small but strong bond between the two of them, the boy having even entrusted Saya's safety to him.

Kyouko with the nearly unspoken trust placed in him.

Shizuka with how she acted as a mother hen over them all whenever they were hurt, the same woman who'd taken a blow for him when that fog monster had attacked, all because she genuinely cared for him and the others.

Then there was Alice too with how she looked up to all of them. If not for this entire apocalypse deal, Takashi couldn't help but feel oddly certain that the young girl would've grown up to be an amazing person, if only because of the others being role models for her, not him.

Even Zeke, who'd only been with them for a short time, had pulled his weight admirably, having always been there to comfort Alice whenever they couldn't, having even shielded her as best as he could during the explosions the other day. If not for him, Alice may have well ended up dead at that time.

Could he truly dismiss all this as a mere dream? Reduce them all and their wonderful traits and bonds to nothing more than a part of his imagination?

The gentle voice from before whispered into the very depths of his soul, saying he can.

But the other voice – his own – that had been vehemently saying otherwise until now finally managed to overpower the gentle one and roared into existence in this abyss.

Via his own mouth, of course. After all, much like the aggressive voice, this mouth was _his_ too and his alone.

Not the Demon's.

"FUCK NO!" he roared into the abyss as he finally woke up.

And as he did so, the abyss around him began to shift before his very eyes in ways that physically hurt to look at as this place, not bound by any law of physics, seemed to take form.

The form of the Demon, its true form, far beyond what any mind could comprehend.

But even so, Takashi glared at what he was assuming to be the Demon's eyes or whatever the fuck passed as eyes for one such as it.

"You want my body?" he whispered, numerous emotions boiling beneath the figurative surface. "Well, guess what? You're not getting it without a goddamned fight!"

…

…

… **VERY WELL**

The Demon's voice, again if it could even be called that, boomed out, deafening beyond imagination.

Then its entire existence surged forth, directly into Takashi and before the boy even knew what was going on, he felt himself being dragged down.

Not further into the abyss, where his body would remain for the time being, but rather into the deep depths of his very own soul.

Where he and the Demon would finally duke it out, it would seem.

Good, he silently muttered. He'd been wanting to beat this little shit's face in for a while now.

He hit a surface of some kind, the surface of whatever made up his inner world or whatever the hell it could be called.

And the instant he did, the Demon began its assault.

Right, time to end this shit.

* * *

 **Quite the turn of events, eh? Hope it doesn't across as rushed or something, heh heh.**

 **That said, this fic has finally reached the beginning of the climax. Can't say for certain how many chapters are left at this point, but I can't imagine it being that much longer than my other HOTD fic, Devil Apocalypse.**

 **So… hmm, probably around the 25 chapters mark, at the very most. Again, don't know just yet. I have the whole thing more or less completely planned out, but as to how I fully write it out and how to break it up between chapters, well, that's where things are a little iffy. As much as I plan things out, I'm ultimately the type of writer that'll simply let the writing itself take me as I go along. So this fic could be over in just a few more chapters or somehow almost twice that amount.**

 **For sure, this fic definitely won't be exceeding 30 chapters. Just want to be clear on that.**

 **As always, hope you guys enjoyed it and any questions you have, just let me know!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	21. Chapter 21

**X59,** hope you'll find this battle between them up to your expectations!

 **TheDarkHollow,** glad and touched this fic would inspire you to read my Devil Apocalypse one! Just be warned it's pretty amateurish in comparison to this one, ha ha. And hope you don't mind if I would suggest reading some of my other fics too, heh! And as always thanks for your kind words, hope things go well for you too!

 **Joker wx,** no problem man, you do what you have to do first in life. Hope it was nothing too serious and that it went okay. And as always, glad you're liking the story!

And **flo463,** heh, there's still a few surprises left in store! Hope they'll be entertaining to read!

Beyond all that, not too much to be said yet again. Ha ha, looks like my life is pretty boring, right? But did get to see the Boku no Hero Academia movie, which was just plain awesome, and am still proceeding along in the processes for the potential new job, which definitely counts for something. Can only hope it continues.

Ah, and as for the rebooted novel I've been mentioning, I'll finally be starting to write it after this fic is completed. Speaking of which, once this fic is completed, I'll be taking a month or even two months off from fanfics to not only focus on my rebooted novel but also in coming up with my next fic too. Have some ideas right now, but so far nothing that I think can be fleshed out some more just yet… but I'm getting there.

Was thinking of a Fate/Stay Night idea in particular, but I'd rather not proceed with it unless I can figure out the general plot and ending. Even considered a High School DxD idea, but same issue still. Also even considered something of a slice of life fic with a few VN protagonists too.

Oh well, still have time to think and figure that out, ha!

Now then, onto the chapter!

P.S. Noticeably more cussing abound with Takashi's sections – a sign of him having truly had enough of this shit. Also, graphic content.

Chapter 21

The Demon was the one to make the first move and it did so with the intention of ending this resistance of the boy's before it could even truly start.

It was not merely the boy's body that had been changed and strengthened as a result of the unintended impact it had had on that woman and her child, but also the boy's mind and soul and even the very _concept_ of his existence. It was because of these changes and strengthening on such levels that he was so ideal a vessel for the Demon never mind the fact that he was the only vessel around anyways.

And it was because of these changes that the boy's mind worked the way it did, having served a channel for those imitations to spawn in the first place. It was because of the very warped and reinforced nature of his soul and concept of existence that the Demon had been able to locate him, its connection to the bloodline aside.

And as such, the Demon had no problem making its first move in this 'battle' a real doozy.

When it had finally been able to get its figurative hands on the boy, it had peered into his mind and accessed his memories. That was why its honeyed words earlier had been so tailored into almost successfully making the boy surrender his body to it.

Now it took the pain and despair from all the bad memories and amplified it a trillionfold before shunting into the boy's very mind and soul.

'Fighting' the boy in the way he seemed to be keen on defining it held no interest for the Demon. It was in its best interests instead to crush his defiant spirit as swiftly as possible.

And so it watched as its 'attack' took effect, eagerly awaiting what it assumed to be the boy's inevitable breaking.

* * *

Takashi had no idea when he started screaming nor how long he ended up doing so.

All he did know was that one second, he'd been glaring defiantly at that bastard Demon whose true self was pretty much impossible to discern and the next second, pain and despair unlike anything he's ever known erupted within him.

He curled up on himself into a fetal position, his very mind and self feeling so horrifically violated and unclean as this pain and despair, vaguely familiar, assaulted him.

Time quickly became a useless concept to him – mere seconds could've passed since the pain suddenly started or maybe years or even tens of years.

Fuck, for all he knew, it could've only been a literal instant.

But as all-consuming as the pain was, he somehow remained conscious, which was more of a curse than anything else. However, a small part of him that retained some measure of clarity felt glad for this pain – it meant he was still alive and raring to go.

Then, purely unconsciously on his body's part, he began to uncurl himself, trying to force himself to get the hell up and rid himself of whatever bullshit was going on.

He could feel the Demon gaze upon him, could feel ever so slightly some measure of surprise coming from the entity and this surprise gave him a renewed sense of strength.

That small part of his mind from before was no longer small, his mind in its entirety seeming to reboot as he started to stand.

This pain, this sadness and grief, it really was familiar. Far greater than he ever recalled it being, but he recognized it now!

"You… think… this will… be enough?!" he spat out with all the venom he could muster through gritted teeth.

The connection between him and the fucking Demon… he didn't know if it was because of the proximity between the two of them right now or something else, but he was getting a flash of knowledge here and there. He now knew what the Demon had done.

His own memories. The damn thing had turned the pain of his own memories against him, albeit reinforced in ways he couldn't fully discern.

Not that it mattered one fucking bit how the Demon did it. He'd pulled through this shit in real life and by god, he's gonna pull through it again!

With a roar, Takashi fully stood, pain and all-consuming emotions still eating away at him on the inside, trying to collapse his mind and probably even his very soul.

He had no way to undo what was done, but he wasn't going to let it stop him.

He was honestly just too fucking angry to stop anyways.

Takashi stomped forth like a man possessed – and man, wasn't that a funny phrase to use here, he thought – glaring at the Demon.

"That all you got?!" He was all but daring the entity to take him seriously. "Come on! You're using your power to protect me from dying or whatever, right?! Well, you're going to have to push that protection to the fucking test if you want this body so badly!"

He could feel the Demon's emotions now, their connection getting a bit stronger as he neared it. It seemed amazed by his actions… but only for a brief second before that emotion faded and was replaced by a surprising resolve.

The teen yet again had no idea what hit him other than that it hurt like a mother fucker.

Every single nerve in his body, from the tips of his toes to his fingers and everything in between, felt like they were literally on fire. His throat felt like it was being frozen solid and his eyes seemed to be melting away, rapidly but most painfully.

He screamed for what felt like the hundredth time, his very body seemingly starting to rot away.

He lost his vision as his eyes melted away into puddles of blood and other fluids that he'd rather not try to imagine, but his other senses still seemed to work well enough, allowing him to feel acutely aware of the state of his rapidly decaying body.

His dick felt like someone was taking a jagged blade to it. So did his balls. The bones in his legs became brittle and broke while the muscles around it tore themselves apart.

And so, so much more.

Takashi's screams became ever louder even as the veins in his neck burst.

But even so – he _endured._

* * *

The Demon worked on the boy in silence, unperturbed by the boy's screaming which was honestly more soothing than anything else to it.

The boy's words of challenge and mockery had come as a bit of a surprise whilst his resiliency had come off as truly amazing in turn, well beyond even its cautious expectations.

And it had come to realize something: the boy was right.

It had its figurative hands on the boy, its protection over him still very much in place. In which case, it truly could do whatever it wanted to the boy without having to worry much over accidentally killing him.

And so, it had begun to do just that.

If the boy possessed a strong enough will to overcome the mental and spiritual anguish he'd once felt in life, even if it was all coalesced and amplified, then let it now test how well the boy could hold up to the harm now being done to his body.

With just a simple half-thought, just the most meager showing of its beyond-dimensional power, it now caused the boy's brain to painfully expand and some sections of it to implode.

It filled his veins with starving maggots.

It completely removed his respiratory system, making it impossible to even breathe, cutting off his screams in the process.

It caused the boy's heart to pump faster and faster until the blood and maggots flowing through it started to burst out of the veins and into the other parts of his body.

It systematically broke each and every bone, first weakening them to the point where even a strong wind would reduce it to dust before doing just that.

It turned half of his muscles into oil and molten lead and so much more while the other half expanded and tore themselves apart.

Whatever internals organs that were still whole simply ceased to work before being shifted around inside his body, stretching and tearing the skin and clothes in the process.

The Demon, with but an afterthought, caused all of the boy's hair to fall right off, down to the very roots and the skin connected to it.

Blood and piss and excrement and pus poured out from every open wound, every orifice including the mouth, rapidly maturing maggots spewing out as well as they ferociously sucked down each of these things, their hunger and thirst so great that they'd dare not waste a single thing about the boy.

The Demon did all this slowly, each and every change spaced out in order to ensure the boy felt every bit of pain to the fullest extent.

It watched as the defiant boy was reduced to a pitiful mess of a living thing, his body so bloody and ghastly a sight that it held little doubt another human would pass out from horror.

But it? It looked on, unphased, expectantly awaiting the breaking of the boy's will finally.

However, as the boy's teeth rotted and broke apart while the maggots viciously pulled them out of the gums, the Demon felt something amiss.

This feeling was so slight that it took it a few minutes to realize what was the source of the oddity.

The boy-.

Even as he lied there helplessly, his head was still slightly raised. And despite no longer having eyes or even a proper mouth anymore, the Demon could literally feel the glare on it, could picture the boy's unrepentant snarl.

The amazement from before returned, stronger than ever.

Even now, after all that, the boy resisted!

* * *

The pain from before had nothing on this, Takashi will admit.

At least the Demon's initial 'attack' had been something familiar and therefore something he could triumph over easily enough, relatively speaking that is.

But this? All these things he could feel his body being put through? That was a different story.

He hurt in ways he never would've imagined possible, in ways that he was absolutely certain not even the most amoral and sadistic of humans would be able to stomach.

Even with his body now wrecked beyond conventional repair – seriously, by all normal rights, he should be dead a million goddamned times over – his senses still worked to some degree, likely yet another thing the Demon had ensured to make him feel all of this.

He was aware of everything done to him just now. The terrifying transformation of half his muscles into hazardous substances, the extreme overclocking of his heart, the organ shifting, the hair falling out, the maggots and all the other things flowing out of him right now…

He was aware of it all down to the last and most miniscule detail.

To say he was in agony and filled with revulsion would be a damn understatement – if hell existed, he wasn't sure how it would top this shit.

But no matter how much pain he was in, he absolutely refused to roll over for this fucking thing. The second he does that, it'll take over his body and go do whatever the fuck it is it wants to do in existence and if this was its idea of amusement, then he didn't want to ever know what it may have in mind for anyone or anything else.

Despite his current predicament, he tried to move. Obviously, this was a veritable impossibility, his muscle pretty much gone at this point, but his current state in and of itself was an impossibility of the highest order. And if he was still alive despite this bullshit, then moving around like this should be just as possible!

But the best he could manage was lifting his head, an action that felt like an eternity to fully accomplish, especially when he felt some maggots, slick from blood and god knows what else, squirming their way into his nostrils, their large size tearing said nostrils open in the process.

God, how he wanted to scream, but the fucking Demon took away that option.

And so, in the face of all this pain and despair, he could only do one thing.

One thing that he just suddenly realized he'd been doing for a good portion of his life – simply burying the hell of it.

All the sadness and anger he'd done his best to suppress this whole time ever since childhood… just as he'd buried all of that, he now sought to bury all this pain.

It worked somewhat, enough for him to focus more on moving.

But it was a slow damn process, him trying to even sit up when even the slightest of movements was causing whatever was left of his bones to give way under their own now extremely brittle weight.

A soundless grunt escaped his withering and pus-leaking lips as his struggle continued.

By all rights, being able to move like this should be completely impossible. And the 'protection' or whatever it is exactly that the Demon granted him only meant he'd survive otherwise fatal things. That didn't mean he'd be able to move like this.

The fact that he was… well, he honestly wasn't quite sure where his mind was going with this train of thought, but it gave him a small sense of hope.

It meant that, if nothing else, he could at least try to do something.

Takashi's struggle to sit up proved successful. Then, steadily, he began to stand.

He was completely unaware that his injuries were slowly beginning to undo themselves.

* * *

The Demon could only stare, its amazement seeming to grow with every passing second.

The boy's life may be ensured via its protection, but his ability to even more much less even breathe despite his long since gone lungs was something that truly should be impossible.

And yet the boy was doing just that – sitting and standing when it shouldn't be possible for him to do so at all.

…Could it be?

Thanks to what had kickstarted all this long ago, the people descended from that woman's bloodline hadn't simply exhibited heightened physical attributes and slowed aging after a point but also powers of various kinds, all of which had proven utterly ineffective against it.

It'd been so completely focused on simply getting to this point that it had neglected the possibility of the boy himself potentially demonstrating such an ability as well.

Was this now the case? The boy's own special power finally blooming?

…

The damage it had inflicted upon the boy was healing, something that was certainly beyond the somewhat heightened healing he'd always had naturally. This was the work of something else, something much stronger.

Granted, the amount of power it had used to reduce the boy's body to such state had been the most minimal of minimal, hardly worth noting in even the slightest of ways, the human equivalent of breathing. But for even this level of strength to slowly be pushed back by the boy was something that shouldn't be happening.

Yet it was.

And now… the boy stood, still very much in pain, his body still far from fully healed, but he now strode forth with renewed determination.

"That… the… best… you got?" the boy wheezed out. He seemed unaware of what was going on with himself.

…

Perhaps… perhaps it should take things just a smidgen more seriously. It highly doubted the boy, even with his growing power, would be able to do anything of notice to it, but it held no desire to drag this out any longer it should.

Time to get a bit more serious.

* * *

…Something's going on, Takashi noticed as he walked forth, glaring at the Demon's still incomprehensible form.

Contrary to what the Demon might think right now, he wasn't fucking oblivious. Something was going on with himself right now. He didn't know what or why it was occurring now of all times, but he wasn't going to complain. If it meant having a better shot at beating this mother fucker, then he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The damage done to his body finally healed completely after what felt like another minute, his bones no longer brittle, his muscles restoring themselves and his skin finally patching itself up in all the areas where it was torn open. The maggots spontaneously died as they exited the last of his closing wounds and the pus ceased too – thank fuck, he hates pus – in addition regaining his ability to actually breathe again.

Though not quite at a hundred percent still, Takashi was more than ready to charge at this bastard and try attacking and that's what he started to do, running as fast as he could, at speeds greater than anything he's exhibited before though he cared not for this substantial difference.

But before he could even cover several meters, the Demon launched its next attack.

The very space in between them, if it can even be properly labeled as space at all, rippled and then seemed to somehow vanish, a sight so utterly surreal that Takashi's eyes nearly burst from the sheer wrongness of it all.

And then the rippling continued onwards and struck him with unmatched power.

Body, mind and soul… it felt like this attack hit him on all those levels.

He blacked out instantly, the pain just that great, but thankfully not permanently.

It took him a few seconds, but he was able to not only wake back up but even try to sit up as the attack had knocked him onto his back.

However, even as he struggled to move, his mind was extremely hazy, parts of it feeling like it were outright missing somehow, for lack of a better way to put it.

He groaned soundlessly as he forced himself up, but as soon as he did so, he fell forward onto his knees, his strength ebbing away from just how much abuse he'd been taking with just a few attacks.

He could feel the Demon watching him far more intensely than before and in response, Takashi raised his head to look at him as he felt the Demon's very presence start to make its way into the very depths of him.

It had now believed he was down for the count, that his resistance had now truly hit the point of futility.

Takashi could feel it now begin to forcibly enter him while his strength continued to fade away.

Was this it? Was this how it was to end? Him and this fucker becoming one or whatever?

"No… fuck that. Fuck you!" he screamed out as he began to feel _something_ start to spread throughout his body and even into his very mind.

The Demon was slowly entering him, for its true self seemed to be there still, somewhere off in the seeable distance… and now, Takashi was finally beginning to make out its form as more of it began to try entering him.

Or rather, it saw whatever its original form was shift as the now ensuing possession really began to pick up.

It became something akin to a pure mass of blackness, even blacker than the space this 'fight' was taking place in, so much so that he could actually discern how big it was.

And holy fuck was it big, stretching off into infinity… and beyond even _that_ , somehow.

This was the Demon? Shit, like his dad had said, it really was a being beyond dimensional space itself; if that thing so much as even twitched funny, everything would come crashing down and then some.

But now, as more of itself forced its way into his weakening form, what he could see of it outside of his body started to compress itself into something far more manageable in size in a literal instant, becoming roughly the size of some of the taller skyscrapers he's seen before.

Takashi finally groaned audibly which then shifted into a scream as he finally became aware of his body beginning to change, a mere side-effect of the Demon entering him.

And the changes were far from painless.

Oh, how it hurt, like growing pains only infinitely greater in scope.

He could scarcely see in this dark space that comprised his soul but he swore he could somewhat make out his own skin paling, his own body stretching and morphing, the skin looking like it was going to break-.

And he could feel the Demon's subdued pleasure at it finally achieving its goal.

And it was this of all things that seemed to fuel him now. It was this that made him angry enough for his own failing strength to start restoring itself.

He focused, harder than ever before in his shitty life, and tried to force the Demon out of him.

Takashi couldn't force it out completely, but he was able to keep it from fully getting at his mind. He could feel it struggle against his efforts, but weakly so, afraid to accidentally break him in the process.

This caution of its making proved to be its undoing somewhat and with a roar symbolizing all his anger, Takashi forced himself back onto his feet while expelling some portion of the Demon.

But not completely; he could still feel some parts of it squirming around inside his very soul, trying to work his way to his mind in order to break his will from the inside. And because it was still in him, the changes that had started were still taking effect, albeit much more slowly now.

But this moment of anger-induced strength only lasted for a brief second before he was left hunching over, panting.

And all the while… the Demon's true self remained. Moreover, the Demon's true self, a black mass that defied all shape, now began to shift once more.

Takashi couldn't help but snort in bemusement despite his circumstances. For the Demon's form slowly began to change into something that just vaguely resembled himself, though he could see influences of its temporary body there too, what with that long hair and the odd eyes.

Still being skyscraper-sized, the Demon's changing form now kneeled down as much as it could towards the 'ground' and stared at him with emotions that Takashi couldn't even begin to imagine right now in its eyes.

Then the Demon's eyes narrowed and the very space around them – the depths of Takashi's soul mixed with the space they were initially in – suddenly warped as it exerted its power.

Darkness gave way to light, at least to some extent.

And for the first time, Takashi saw what his soul may possibly look like.

Desolate and barren, a dark gray sky that stretched on infinitely in all directions. What looked like what had once been a vibrant and amazing looking structure was now worn down and broken in many areas, looking even grayer and more decadent than anything he and the others have seen on their trip during the apocalypse.

Thunder boomed and black rain fell whilst the Demon now remained crouched on what appeared to be a massive platform to accommodate its immense size in the middle of this entire area. Pieces of the ruins around them both broke off as terrible winds assaulted everything there and proceeded to circle around the Demon and the entire area not unlike a tornado.

This was the eye of the storm, Takashi realized, or at least something akin to it.

But that aside…

"This is my soul?" he murmured to himself. Somehow, he could just tell that's what this place was, a reflection of his very self.

Rather than appalled by it, he found himself looking upon it and noting to it be quite fitting. Truly a perfect representation of the chaotic and weary emotions that have dwelled within him for so long.

It made him feel… almost comfortable.

So, instead of shying away from the truth of his own character, he looked all around and took it all in with an accepting yet increasingly energized gaze.

"So," he began, his voice sounding hoarse from years and years of fatigue now. Or was that also another change brought on by the Demon's possession? "You brought me here to… what? Try and break my will another way? Or was it just for the sake of a scenic final battle?"

He finished his circling and glared at the crouching Demon. There was a pathway leading up to its platform. Takashi started walking towards it.

"Well guess what, it won't be enough," he growled out.

Here in the depths of his own soul made manifest, the connection between him and the Demon felt stronger than ever, no doubt due to it having started the possession process mere moments ago. For up above in that not-so-lifeless gray sky, flashes appeared alongside the thunder, allowing Takashi to see what the Demon was seeing…

…Including the vision that it shared with the three remaining monsters out there in the world. The same that were making their way towards his friends and the others.

Rei.

Saya.

Saeko.

Hirano.

Shizuka.

Kyouko.

Alice.

His parents and Kiriko-san and the other survivors…

Something within Takashi snapped at the sight. Those three titan-like monsters were perhaps a moment or two away from reaching them all and all it would take would be just one tiny physical movement on any single one of their parts to kill off his friends and by extension the final remnants of humanity.

In the midst of his own struggles up until now, he knew that the others were in trouble, but now seeing it play out like this made that horrible, horrible thought into a reality that would soon be happening.

It was this that strengthened him past the point of all restraint. Indignant determination burst forth from within as if it were a literal force all on its own.

And combined with the Demon's own attempted possession of him, that 'something within' finally awakened for good.

His innate power broke through the surface and made itself known, the very area that was the depths of his soul shaking in response.

"I'M NOT LETTING YOU WIN, YOU HEAR ME?!" His voice roared louder than the thunder, louder than anything in existence, really, easily on par with the Demon's own booming 'voice' from earlier. "AND LIKE HELL I'LL LET YOU LAY EVEN A FINGER ON THEM!"

For the very first time in what had to be its entire existence, the Demon looked truly taken aback by the power that Takashi could feel rolling off himself.

And it was this same power that now shot up into the sky in the form of a beam of warped light, breaking through the infinite and reaching out into the world.

He was working entirely off instinct here, but Takashi somehow had an innate grasp of how to do this shit.

And if he couldn't be there to protect his friends themselves then he sure as hell was going to at least give them a little 'support.'

He grinned viciously as the Demon's gaze broke away from him to look at the beam of power instead. Its attention was so enraptured by this that its gradual possession of him seemed to grind almost to a halt.

Feeling the Demon's guard finally being thrown off, Takashi was finally free to launch an actual attack.

With nary a sound, he charged forth, eager to end this here and now.

* * *

Following the Demon's temporary body appearing out of nowhere to snatch Takashi, the group's moral had been about as low as could be.

The gradually sinking bit of land they were all on in addition to the titanic monsters now being so very close by didn't help one bit.

Neither was the state most of the people here were in.

Some were dead and those still alive were horribly injured and in much pain and confusion, which was to be naturally expected given just how violently those ginormous monsters had smacked them around inside the barrier earlier.

It was all Shizuka could do to keep from breaking down herself. There were far too many people in need of medical attention, especially Iroha, but there was only so much she could do with what few medical supplies she still had on hand.

All around her, people were crying out deliriously for help and the mere sound of their despair and pain filled cries made her own heart feel like it would explode from the heartbreak.

This… this wasn't how she ever wanted to see things to end. For as long as she could remember, a nurse and eventually a doctor had always been what she wanted to be, all for the sake of being able to help others.

To now be so utterly helpless while everyone else around her suffered… it was too much to bear.

But even so, she tried to do what she could. Because even if the end of the world was here, she simply refused to throw in the towel just yet.

If this was to how things ended, then she would do what she's always wanted to do until that very final instant – helping people.

Alas… the end was already pretty much upon them.

Those three monsters were little more than just a few miles away now, maybe a bit further back than that, but their vast size meant they would traverse such a feeble distance like nothing. She could already see the giant with the swords for hands preparing to swing.

And all around her, she could feel the others – Kyouko-chan who was helping her out along with Alice-chan and Rei-chan and Saeko-chan and Saya-chan and Hirano-kun – all tense up, various unreadable emotions on their faces save for one: despair.

The giant was the first of the three colossal monsters to approach them, its sword hands at the ready.

It started to raise its right one high into the sky, preparing to smite them like a vengeful deity. Everyone that was still conscious and aware looked up at this and feebly huddled around each other, wanting to be together as close as was physically possible to the very end.

But not Shizuka, who still tried to do whatever she could to help stabilize a barely coherent Iroha. That said, she did glance up at what was coming and began to brace herself for the incoming swing-.

Only for it to not come.

Instead, a burst of light suddenly occurred high above in the sky, far higher than even the giant's arm reached.

It enraptured everyone there despite their dire circumstances. Even the monsters froze as they looked up at the light.

The light was quick to ebb away, but not before dispersing the stormy weather that had been going on, leaving behind a perfectly clear sky that allowed everyone to see the stars above.

But more than that…

"A-Ah…" Shizuka couldn't help but gasp as did her companions.

Something so very powerful yet so very gentle had suddenly taken root in her when that light had appeared just now.

Moreover, it had felt so very familiar.

"Takashi…!" Rei-chan muttered in absolute shock and joy nearby.

Yes. As crazy as this entire situation was and as even crazier as it seemed to have just gotten, the familiar presence of Komuro-kun now within her put Shizuka at great ease.

But even more than that-!

Shizuka now bowed her head, lowering her hands gently onto Iroha's still bleeding wound.

The sensation now within her, Komuro-kun's doing, demanded to be released, ready to make her wishes into reality.

She obliged.

Shizuka's eyes, which had closed when she bowed her head, now opened as she looked back up.

She then called out a phrase that came so naturally to her, a phrase that, to her, felt like it would change everything.

"Gate, open!"

* * *

 **Sorry for not really featuring the others until the end there, but up until that point, it would've simply been a matter of them waiting for the monsters to finally close the distance between them, hardly riveting material. Hence why Takashi's conflict with the Demon took up most of this rather brief chapter.**

 **Speaking of which, said conflict thus far took a lot of inspiration from the final battle in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, a game with a truly amazing story! Would definitely recommend playing it to you guys. The gameplay is simplistic, but if you're looking for a story that'll move you, then that's definitely a game worth checking out!**

 **On another and somewhat related note, the things Takashi got put through. Some of the things his body was put through – the overclocked heart, the maggots, and non-existent muscles, etc. – that was actually more or less taken from another character that endured all that and more named Seijuurou Hiiragi from a VN called Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Hachimyoujin. A mouthful of a name, I know, but what little translated bits I've found of it were really amazing. To be expected from the same company that made Dies Irae, same writer and artist too!**

 **Now then, all that said, well, if you've read a certain other fic of mine, then hopefully that final line took you by surprise, ha ha. Been building up to this moment for quite a long time, so I'm really hoping it has the appropriate impact.**

 **At the rate this is going, the fic may very well be finished in maybe another 2 or 3 chapters. Again, not fully sure just yet since I'm still planning out how much content to stuff in each one but shouldn't be many more than that now that I really take a moment to lie back and dwell on it.**

 **Hope said final few chapters will continue to amaze!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	22. Chapter 22

Hey there, guys! So, I sent out a PM to some of you, but just to reiterate anyways, the 'Gate, open' line is a significant reference to another fic of mine. Now beyond that, I naturally can't spoil, but I will do my best to explain within the story why it's there. I hope it will be satisfactory for you guys.

And to **TheDarkHollow,** I understand. I wouldn't say you'd have to watch the entirety of the animes or read the source materials to get a complete understanding of the series used for my other fics, but just a bit, just enough to get a feel for the premise since in pretty much all my fics, I naturally go off the rails.

In particular, my two Naruto related ones, which deviated quite a lot from canon Naruto, to the point where one only needs to know pretty much the basic premise and main characters to be able to read them without getting a little lost. Those two fics in particular (especially the first one), hold a good deal of significance, but don't worry, if you don't have the time or anything to read them, it won't diminish the experience in the end.

Oh, and thank you for wishing me luck for the job! Don't have it just yet – still have a few more steps left in the hiring process before I know for sure if I got the job or not – but I sure as hell am hoping to get it!

Hmm, looks like I rambled there a bit. Sorry about that, guys! Hope it didn't come across as pretentious or anything either because that's really not the tone I was going for.

Ah, and now here I am being a paranoid worrywart about that, ha ha.

Whelp, not much else to say as of this time, so let's get on with the chapter!

Chapter 22

The three titans couldn't help but pause in genuine shock.

Just as they, specifically the Giant, had been about to end the few remnants of humanity, a sudden blast of light had gone off in the sky above them.

Or so it would seem to the humans down below; to the titans, being more aware of things and whatnot, the light didn't so much appear in the sky as it did spontaneously erupt from another plane of existence altogether, though from where exactly, they couldn't fathom really.

However, the three recognized the feeling behind that light – one of their creators, the boy. And they could feel the boy's own power, his own emotions and hopes, all but literally pour forth from the light itself and envelop some of the humans down below, the ones that, thanks to their connection to the Demon, they recognized as the boy's companions.

The other humans couldn't see the boy's power work over them in a veritable instant. Couldn't see how said power in turn changed them, imbuing them with incredible strength derived from said boy's very self.

But they seemed aware of something having changed within them for the boy's compatriots no longer looked scared, no longer looked to be in despair….

No longer accepted being powerless.

They then heard the blond woman shout out "Gate, open!"

When that happened, the titans moved into action, feeling the new power those few humans had just been given now well up to a bursting point.

The Giant, having already been about to attack, finally followed through, swinging its right sword-hand with all its might.

Its very strength, though somewhat lackluster compared to the Leviathan and Colossus, is more than enough to cleave through entire continents and split oceans for miles on end with ease.

By all rights, this one attack should've been far more than enough to put an end to the humans below.

But just as it looked like the Giant would end the humans, its attack suddenly clashed against what felt like a barrier, one so tough that the very force of its own attack seemed to bounce back at it, knocking it off balance.

The Giant stumbled back, not only from being knocked off balance, but in genuine amazement too.

The other titans, having been in the midst of retreating a bit in order to lunge forward and ram the humans' last bit of land, froze in place.

Sure enough, they looked and saw a barrier once again erected over the entirety of that last bit of land, even raising the sinking land from the unforgiving sea.

Unlike the boy's mother, who could create a barrier of pure white energy, this one was a light purple in color. Moreover, it somehow gave off an entirely different feel.

But what held the titans' attention was the same blond woman who'd seemingly summoned it.

There, now standing tall and proud, was her, an ornate looking shield that seemed partially formed out of light purple ice floating directly in front of her. This shield emitted the same unknown energy that the new barrier was comprised of, confirming that it was the source of it.

Needless to say, the titans were shocked.

But the surprises didn't end there.

"Svalinn!" the blond woman then cried out, apparently the name of the shield.

Power unlike anything they're felt up until now made itself known and washed over the woman and the others there nearby.

And before the titans' very eyes, they witnessed what could only be described as a mass healing.

In the span of just a few seconds _at most_ , everyone's wounds, no matter how minor or severe, completely healed. And more than just that occurred. As the naturally shocked humans stood up with completely renewed energy, the titans observed them standing just a bit taller, just bit straighter than ever before, even seeing one person's minor acne completely clear up, marginally crooked noses straightening themselves and so much more.

This… this was more than just healing. It seemed to be making any that were under that shield's mysterious effects _better_ than they ever were before, healing them on an _existential_ level, removing genetic deficiencies and more!

They could tell that the woman who was the source of this absurdity naturally wasn't spared from her own power either, standing a bit straighter, her somewhat sagging breasts standing far more perkily than ever before despite their great size relative to the human.

So utterly stupefied by what they were seeing… that whatever changes the other humans were undergoing from the power bequeathed to them went unnoticed until it was nearly too late.

The Giant was once again the first to sense it, primarily because the attack – an attack! From a human?! – was aimed at it and not the others.

Raising one of its swords at the last possible second, the Giant was able to just barely deflect a large slash that had been aimed at its entire torso.

However, it was only able to deflect part of the slash – specifically the parts that had struck its sword. The other parts of it that didn't directly come into contact with its sword somehow continued onwards struck true.

The Giant once more stumbled as genuine pain assaults its senses. The wounds it had just suffered were fairly shallow, just barely drawing blood… but the fact remained it had been _wounded. It hurt, even if only a bit._

The Giant's mind could scarcely comprehend such a feat and it immediately looked to the source of the attack.

There, not too far from the blond woman and standing tall and glaring up at it was another woman, younger than the other one, a teen really. Nonetheless, she bore the visage of a young warrior, glaring at it not in anger but rather glaring at it critically, trying to see how it would move and guard.

In this young woman's hands as she shifted once more into an attacking stance was a sword, specifically an oodachi that was easily as long as the woman was tall, gleaming with a crimson light along the very edge of the blade.

The Giant had no more time to admire said blade before the woman suddenly thrust it forth at it, a beam of intense crimson light shooting out the tip to such an extent that from a certain perspective made it look like the sword was extending instead.

The Giant blocked it, but the force of the blow proved to be unexpected and it staggered back. However, the Giant was able to recover with a surprising grace and now with an unreadable expression on its fiery face.

The power of that strike… it hadn't been pure physical strength, at least not completely. That sword the young woman now wielded was special, but in what ways the Giant knew not.

And it cared not either.

Crush them, crush them, crush them! As long as it and its fellow two titans could bring down this barrier, then it didn't matter what sort of powers and abilities the boy had somehow granted his comrades!

Coming to this same conclusion as well, the Leviathan and Colossus sprung into action once more. But rather than continue with what they were initially going to do, they decided to do things a tad bit differently.

The Colossus was the first to move, circling around the Giant to the left, practically skipping about despite its size and weight.

The new barrier naturally covered the entire small strip of land, but was it as tough all around? Only one way to find out.

The Colossus lashed out with only one fist, merely as a test.

Nonetheless, its sole fist contained immense power and when it smashed against the barrier, said power certainly showed, generating shockwaves that traveled tens of miles over a wide area.

Yet the barrier remained strong.

The Colossus silently huffed and struck again, this time with two fists. And got the same result.

The Giant backed away, allowing the Colossus to really go at it now and it started pounding on the barrier with all four of its arms and with all its power.

The sea rippled and split under its might and whatever other bits of rubble that had once been land nearby were completely obliterated, reduced to nothing more than molecules at this point from the powerful shockwaves that resulted from its relentless barrage.

For an entire minute, it pounded on the barrier, which refused to even budge an inch. Finally getting a little fed up, the Colossus backed away, feeling it was now time to let the Leviathan have a turn.

Only when it backed off did it finally notice a very dull sensation in two of its fists.

Confused, it raised its fists up to its face and its expression changed to one of surprise. For there on two of its fists were a number of small cuts, hardly enough to bleed, but certainly noticeable to its sharp eyes.

Although left unsaid, it did possess a minor healing factor for the all but impossible event where it was ever injured. These cuts, as minor as they may be, should've healed at most a second after they'd been inflicted.

Yet here they remained and the Colossus couldn't help but get the feeling that they wouldn't be fading any time soon at all.

It gazed at the barrier protected land and narrowed its eyes upon seeing someone that had moved to the backyard areas at some point.

There stood a young woman, perhaps the same age as the one that had attacked the Giant, this one with auburn hair and eyes. Like the other one, she wielded a weapon of her, but unlike the young sword wielder, this girl wielded a naginata.

The naginata looked almost like any ordinary but was black in color and had a rather ornate design along both the hilt and the blade itself. The naginata was also quite large, more suited for someone twice or even thrice her size, meaning that by all rights the girl should be having a good deal of discomfort wielding it, let alone using it. However, that didn't seem to be the case at all. If anything, she almost looked completely comfortable with it, as if it was a part of her.

Had she been the one to do this to it? Were its minor injuries refusing to heal her doing?

How? Was it the naginata or something else entirely?

The Colossus knew not… and that actually worried it.

For the sake of caution, it backed away just a bit more…

Giving the Leviathan now enough room to make its own move against them.

The largest of the monsters let loose a roar that seemed to shake the very heavens, spinning in place so that its absolutely massive tail came crashing down on the barrier.

If breaking it would be impossible, then perhaps it should simply try to completely submerge them underwater. After all, the barrier clearly let in air for the humans to continue breathing, so why not let in water too?

But to its amazement, this attempt at sinking them failed almost immediately after its tail made contact. It wasn't the barrier that the blonde had already erected that had done so either.

Awkwardly, the Leviathan squirmed about, trying to get a look at what had happened just now.

And spotted the pink haired girl with a raised hand. Unlike the others, she didn't seem to have any kind of esoteric weapon… meaning she must have just gained an ability instead.

But what?

The Leviathan received its answer when the girl took a deep breath and then promptly stomped her foot down. The instant the sole of her foot made contact with the ground, chunks of the very grass and earth underneath broke apart and were immediately flung at the Leviathan's side.

Due to the sheer size difference between it and the rubble launched its way, said rubble was more akin to extremely small bullets, 'bullets' that actually managed to penetrate its skin, albeit marginally.

The Leviathan, although unhurt, felt shocked and immediately turned around, now intending on ramming the barrier with all its might.

But as soon as it did, it ended up letting out a deafening cry of genuine pain as its eyes were shot out somehow.

The massive monster thrashed around in place, having been completely unprepared for such a thing, its throes being violent enough to make its fellow monsters move away lest they be caught up in its path.

And as soon as they did so, the Giant felt its very instincts suddenly compel it to dodge. Obeying, it ducked its head and not a microsecond too soon when the spot its head had occupied just now suddenly burst like a balloon.

It promptly backed away some more alongside the Colossus, both of them now feeling genuinely concerned.

The tides have turned quite drastically. No longer could they simply act as if they had nothing to fear.

For until they figured out what these new powers were and how they worked, the three remaining monsters would have to approach this much more carefully.

Now beginning to regain their cool, the monsters backed off, including a now settling Leviathan.

They did so with a good deal of distaste. Never would they have imagined it possible for them to be pushed back like this.

It was time to take a moment and regroup…

And very soon, they'll strike again with a vengeance.

On this, they swore.

* * *

Kohta exhaled as he held his gun – his _empty_ gun – while watching the monsters retreat.

He couldn't believe it. They'd actually been able to do that just now. They'd made those fucking things back off.

"And it's all thanks to Komuro," he murmured as he _stood up by himself_. When Shizuka had brought up that barrier of hers and the healing power kicked in, it had even restored his legs in addition to healing him of all the others wounds he had.

Hell, he'd even lost a fair bit of weight somehow, just feeling 'better' than he ever was before, though he could say without any problem that he was still far from being in good physical shape like the others.

Speaking of whom…

"Everyone okay?" Takagi-san asked from somewhere beside him.

"Y-Yes," called out one shocked Mrs. Komuro, her severe wound from before completely healed as well, the beam in her head no longer there. Even her husband, who'd been barely conscious before, was now coming out of it, looking perfectly alert and confused alongside the rest of the others.

"Just what in the world…?" then uttered Miyamoto-san's mom, Kiriko-san. Although healed of her injuries too, she still looked rather disheveled as she pointed a finger at the weapons her daughter and Busujima-san held.

"Takashi," answered daughter, smiling for what seemed like the first time in a long time. She hefted her naginata gently, as if it were a baby. "He did this. I can tell. I think we all can tell."

"…Could it be?" Mr. Komuro muttered as he got up, sparing his wife a glance to make sure she was okay. "Considering everyone on your side of the family having their own special power… could this be his?"

His question was directed to Mrs. Komuro, who could only nod dumbly. "I-It would seem so," she stuttered out. "That light earlier then… so I hadn't been imagining it…!"

Now Kohta stepped forward, Takagi-san and the others by his side. "You definitely weren't. I can just tell… this is his doing, alright." He couldn't help but smile like a loon. "He'd given us a fighting chance!"

And all while having to deal with the Demon too…

His smile fell as that thought occurred to him.

Komuro and the Demon… shit, how was that confrontation going down right now? Was Komuro holding on? Or could it already be too late and this was all just some cruel hope spot the Demon was giving them for some reason?

This thought seemed to be something occurring to the others too, for they all looked more than a little grim…

But then….

"I-I'm sure Takashi onii-chan is still fighting!" cried out a now healed Alice, the girl pumping both fists as she exclaimed this. "I mean, the world is still here, right?"

"…That's right, brat," Takagi-san now said with a small smile. "If that Demon is that eager, then if it had taken over Takashi's body, it would've already been back by now. So chins up, everyone – the idiot isn't down and out for good just yet."

"We need to help him," Miyamoto-san stated fiercely, her grip on her new weapon tightening.

"Not with those three still around," Takagi-san retorted. "I highly doubt they'll be gone for very long. At most, maybe several minutes. And when they do come back, they're not going to be too easy to take off guard anymore. If nothing else, they'll at least be able to keep their surprise better contained and respond more quickly. I'm sure you two can attest to that in some respect." She motioned to both of the other teenaged girls there.

"Indeed," spoke Busujima-san, who'd been quiet up until now, having instead been admiring her new blade with almost fervent interest. "Even if they don't come up with a counter to our new abilities, they will be responding much more readily to us now."

"Mhm. That aside, I highly doubt any of us have a convenient teleportation power or something, right?" Takagi-san then said. "So reaching Takashi right now would still be pretty much impossible anyways."

"…So, now what?" finally spoke Shizuka, the nurse looking so focused and serious that Kohta honestly felt a bit weirded out. The same could be said of the others too, even as they were getting sidelined in this conversation so far.

"We need to know each other's new powers." It was Miyamoto-san who brought this up, switching her naginata from her left hand to her right, planting it in the ground. "We're going to need to coordinate our attacks now, right? Then we better know what exactly we can do."

A damn good point, one that they all agreed on immediately and silently.

So, with that, they just jumped right into it.

It was quite convenient that not only did Komuro give them these powers that said powers also came with an innate understanding of them, if only individually.

Forming a little circle, they started talking quickly.

Kohta's power was basically combustion on an atomic level, certainly a powerful ability considering he'd used it to destroy the largest monster's eyes. However, he could only use it when wielding a gun, which acted as a conduit for said power. Thankfully, he didn't require any ammo for this power. The only drawback was that it was quite an energy-sapper. Until he fully got used to using to this power, he could maybe fire seven or eight more times before completely exhausting himself.

Takagi-san had the ability to manipulate vectors defensively, being able to use it to modify any vector values she pretty much wants. It was this ability that had repelled the sword using monster's attack almost right back at it. She could even use it to attack by essentially flinging nearby objects at high speeds. However, her ability required a good deal of physics knowledge to properly work, so anyone who wasn't quite up to snuff with math and the like wouldn't be able to use it very well.

But considering Takagi-san was pretty much the smartest person he knew, Kohta wasn't worried.

Then there was Miyamoto-san with her naginata, which had no name. Its passive ability could hamper a target's regenerative abilities, assuming it had any at all. But its true power was being able to generate an invisible 'field' that, when crossed, will immediately cut whoever or whatever enters it with an invisible replica of her naginata's blade instantly. And the closer the target is to Miyamoto-san herself, the more cuts they receive.

Truly, a powerful ability, absurd even, but the downside was that it didn't exactly possess a friendly fire option, meaning all of them could be subject to being cut down by the field too. It didn't help that said field can expand up to twenty-five meters in diameter, which isn't exactly small.

Busujima-san's sword – apparently called a Device – was named Rengoku. It channels her own killing intent – and boy, wasn't that scary to hear during the explanation just now – into long range sword slices. The more focused her killing intent, the stronger the slash will be. It even has minor homing capabilities since the attacks are manifestations of her own will and not necessarily a physical action. And when fighting at close range, she doesn't even need to draw her blade to create the slashes – just will alone at that point will do.

Scary shit right there, especially since there doesn't really seem to be a drawback.

And hell, even Shizuka had a pretty broken ability in Kohta's opinion.

From what the super busty nurse could tell – and was it just him, or did the nurse look even bustier somehow now? – she possessed something called a magical weapon of all things, named Svalinn. Apparently, some artifact from Norse mythology from what she rambled out quickly.

When activated, it generates a pretty much impenetrable barrier that has to be overwritten by a stronger concept in order to be destroyed. The magical weapon can also be used to heal on a fucking _conceptual level_ , being able to heal pretty much anything, even genetic defects and more! And the abilities could be combined, resulting in their current situation, namely having a barrier that healed everyone and everything within it.

And Shizuka can choose for there to be exceptions within this healing barrier too!

Once this was all explained, there was a good minute of complete silence as everyone took it all in.

"Holy hell…" Kiriko-san mumbled out from nearby. She turned to Mrs. Komuro. "Do any of your relatives have abilities that ridiculous."

"…Some do," Mrs. Komuro stated, the woman looking just as amazed as everyone else. "But not quite to that extent, at least as far as I'm aware. It's not as if I've met every single member of my bloodline."

"Did you two obtain powers too?" Mr. Komuro asked of both Hayashi-sensei and Alice.

Hayashi-sensei was the one to answer. "Y-Yes. But for some reason, I can't access it just yet… it almost feels like it's waiting for something before revealing itself to me."

"I… I think mine's the same too…" Alice chipped in afterwards.

The water around their mending bit of land rippled, drawing attention away from the two to the sea out ahead.

"…There they are," spoke Kohta. He hefted his gun up, ready to spring into action that the drop of a hat.

Sure enough, on the seeable horizon were the three monsters. Looks like they really were already back for the next round.

"…As much as it pains me to say this, I'm going to sit this out," Kiriko-san said. "Conventional weaponry clearly isn't going to cut it. The best we can do is just leave it up to you lot… as painful as that sounds."

"No worries, mom" Miyamoto-san said, sounding oddly confident yet determined. "Somehow, it makes sense that it would come down to something like this. A crazy solution for a crazy situation."

Kiriko-san snorted. "I guess so." She eyed her daughter for a brief second before giving her a hug. "Give 'em hell, Rei."

"I will. We all will." Kohta heard her whisper back.

"I'll stay with them," Mrs. Komuro then said, stepping up.

Everyone, having been in the process of heading into the restored houses courtesy of Shizuka's magical weapon, Svalinn, paused in surprise at this. So did Kohta and the others.

"Are you sure, honey?" Mr. Komuro asked, the man having remained remarkably calm throughout the whole conversation thus far. Kohta truly aspired to reach that level of chill one day.

Mrs. Komuro smiled softly. "Not really… but every helping hand available could potentially make that much more of a difference. I can supplement Shizuka-san's barrier with my own, just in case those monsters do possess a means of breaking past it." She gripped his hand gently, even as her expression grew sad. "Besides… I still have a long way to go before I could atone for being such a horrible mother. And a horrible wife too – if I'd known you'd end up in this much danger after all-."

"I'd have still insisted on being here until the end," the man said, cutting off his wife with a tone that allowed no room for backtalk. "We may not have ever foreseen things turning out quite like this, but it won't dissuade me from being here anymore than anything else you've ever told me."

Mr. Komuro then sighed before smiling bitterly. "Besides, I'm just as shitty a parent too. A lot to make up for regarding our son."

"Dear…"

"Uh, not to interrupt this developing moment," Shizuka uttered a little awkwardly, her previously serious expression now turning to one of the goofier ones Kohta remembers her having more often. "But those monsters are getting pretty close now."

Both Komuros nodded in understanding. Mrs. Komuro then stepped up, her entire body practically glowing with energy as Kohta saw her concentrate.

Shizuka's magical weapon hadn't simply healed her of her wounds, but also had restored a good deal of her stamina, if not all of it. Mrs. Komuro was now once more at the peak of her strength and it showed as a white barrier, far brighter than the previous one, shimmered into existence in a literal instance, overlapping Shizuka's own.

"Let's do our best," the black-haired woman said to the blonde. A smile was on her face, brimming with determination, but also with a tenderness that Kohta found himself feeling at ease by.

He watched as Shizuka returned the smile with her own. "Nn!"

"Given my own natural lack of combat capabilities here," Mr. Komuro suddenly said as he approached him and Takagi-san. "There's not exactly much I can do out here… but if nothing else, I can be an extra pair of eyes alongside Kyouko-san and Alice-chan here. We could call out any incoming attacks in case you lose track of the monsters."

Both Hayashi-sensei and Alice, both of whom had looked rather down a moment ago due to their own abilities not awakening, looked surprised by the man's words. But the surprise only lasted for a brief second before the two nodded firmly in agreement.

Kohta watched as Takagi-san smirked. "…Alright then. We'll be counting on you."

Mr. Komuro smirked too. "We won't let you down. And say, Saya-chan. If we do pull through this after all, care for testing your new ability some more? It has the physicist in me all worked up."

"Heh, only if we all really do get through this."

"I'll definitely do my best then. Hope you don't mind if I hope you do the same." His smirk then dropped. "Here they come now."

"Alright then," Kohta found himself saying, stepping forth with a confidence he'd never felt before in life.

Walking closer to the edge of the dual-barriers alongside Miyamoto-san and Busujima-san, he cocked his gun, fiddling with it as if to reload it even though it's no longer necessary. Old habits do die hard after all.

"Let's do this!"

* * *

Takashi roared with primal fury.

The Demon had redirected its attention back on him as soon as he'd even started charging, rendering his hopes of a surprise attack completely moot. But even so, the boy had continued to run forth without hesitation anyways.

Naturally, his path forward wasn't an easy one – the Demon was swift to fill it with many obstacles.

Obstacles that came in the form of shadowy figures made in his own likeness, at that too.

How oddly fitting, he supposed.

Each 'clone' for lack of a better way to put it held tremendous strength, easily rivaling that of those three gigantic monsters back on earth right now.

But as powerful as each shadowy figure was… Takashi was amazingly proving to be stronger still. With one ferocious attack after another, he vanquished the moving shadows with a single attack each.

The boy had no idea why exactly he held such strength now of all times – though there was a small part of him that could make a good guess – but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Out of my fucking way!" he screamed as the Demon made more figures for him to fight. As soon as he did scream, his very own eyes seemed to glow with power itself and on instinct, he reared back a hand and thrust it forward like a lance, shooting an actual blast of energy forward.

Said blast obliterated everything in its path – the shadows, the stony structures that made up this mental landscape, even the very concepts of space and more within this 'world.'

If this surprised the Demon, Takashi couldn't tell even with the help of their connection. Instead, the Demon merely made a sound akin to a hum and proceeded to make even more figures for him to fight his way through.

But not before destroying the pathway that connected each of the standing platforms that Takashi had been traversing to get to the entity.

Takashi tried to leap over it but miscalculated and ended up taking the hit almost completely head on. He could literally feel the attack affect his very mind and soul, causing him to nearly pass out whereas the physical damage felt minor in comparison.

Even so, most of his body was hurt badly, his muscles liquifying and his skin feeling like it was being peeled right off with a thousand rusty knifes.

However, thanks to a combination of his own still growing power and sheer will, the damage started to undo itself, even the damage done to his mind and soul.

He swore the Demon wasn't going to get his body easily and like hell he'd fail to live up to that fucking self-made promise.

Having been flung back by the attack, Takashi rolled and managed to get back up on his feet in one swift movement-.

Just in time for the many shadowy figures that the Demon had produced to finally finish taking shape.

Takashi's eyes narrowed, not in anger, but more in bemusement surprisingly enough.

"Somehow… I figured some bullshit like this would happen," he murmured to no one in particular.

There were more than two dozen shadowy figures about to descend upon him, each one taking the shape of creatures that no felt so familiar to him:

The monsters from his 'dreams.'

Doggy.

The Fire Man.

They were but two of the now familiar creatures looking back at him.

Takashi remembered being so scared of them not so long ago. So, by all rights, being surrounded by so many of them ought to have made him piss his pants.

But now?

"Bring it!" He challenged them without fear and not simply because of his own power, but rather he was just that fucking tired of being scared anymore.

The monsters all roared in unison, issuing their own challenge before bum-rushing him, the ones that didn't have any long-ranged attacks, that is. As for the Fire Man and any others that could attack from a distance, they fell back in order to bombard him from afar with one simultaneous blast.

The blast traveled faster than the other lunging monsters, faster than he could react and all he could do was guard against it, unconsciously creating a temporary barrier around him that withstood the blast for him.

But it had kept him in place just long enough for the others to land atop him, piling their various sized bodies upon him, pinning him down to the ground with all their strength.

By all rights, given his current strength level, flinging them all off him should've been easy even with their combined weight. However, it would seem these imitations of imitations were much stronger than the ones he and his friends had encountered thanks to the Demon personally making these ones. As such, their combined strength proved too much for him to handle.

He swore under his now strained breath. He tried to get a better feel for his own power, tried to think of some way to get these things off him.

He had to do something and fast – he could hear the Demon begin to shift on the pedestal it was crouching on. It'd only be maybe a minute more before it probably decides to get up and move up to him.

Concentrating, energy began to pour off his very form, an ominous red and grey in color. Focusing, the energy began to take form into something akin to a barrier that then began to shove back all the shadowy monsters who wasted no time pounding on it to no avail.

Finally having some breathing room, Takashi slowly stood, the barrier expanding more and more with each movement of his body until he finally was back up on his feet. He then let out a vicious howl and the barrier seemed to explode in response

When it did so, space itself seemed to just warp in response, the explosion so powerful that not only were the monsters instantly wiped out but the ones that had fallen back to attack from afar found their next wave of attacks unable to get close to Takashi.

Indeed, from his perspective, it looked as if their various energy blasts were simply frozen in place. But somehow, Takashi knew better – it wasn't that the attacks were locked in place, but rather the very space between him and the attacks have been extended by an infinite amount.

The other monsters could only look on in genuine shock before Takashi's eyes gleamed and a wave of explosions promptly occurred within his line of sight, wiping the remaining shadow monsters out with ease.

Takashi felt a brief sense of elation before panting and heaving from exhaustion. However, this exhaustion was not physical in nature. No, it felt more as if his very existence itself was being worn down tremendously, a result of his hasty and extreme overuse of his own power.

Something that the Demon also noticed.

The entire 'world' around started to break and fall apart and before he even knew it, Takashi could feel the Demon's very existence start to fill him without the damn thing even moving from its current spot.

"This… isn't… over… yet!" Takashi managed to utter out through gritted teeth.

He stomped forward before leaping from the current platform to the next one since the pathway connecting them was gone. He landed with quite an impact, nearly shattering it, but he paid it no mind. Instead, the boy moved ever closer to the Demon.

….And the closer he got, the stronger their connection became too.

He let out a gasp, the Demon using this to its advantage immediately, forcing more of itself within him to the point that Takashi felt as if he would burst.

The changes that had begun when it first started to possess him restarted in earnest.

His body started to grow taller, his muscles larger and denser. His skin stretched painfully and paled to the point that it could only be described as a light gray, borderline white.

Takashi's body, mind, and soul were wracked with unfathomable pain as the Demon filled every crevice of him in every way possible. It was all he could to do keep marching forward, his own power working to restore the final pathway between him and the Demon since he no longer had it in him to jump the vast distance between them.

But when his own power finally led to the recreation of the pathway and he started to finally walk across it towards the Demon, he nearly collapsed at the halfway point, gasping silently.

He ran his hands first along his face, feeling his own mouth somehow disappearing whilst cracks formed vertically along his eyes and the areas directly above and below them, something coming out of these cracks that he couldn't identify.

His hair grew much longer and was no longer spiky, instead cascading down not unlike a waterfall just as something formed atop his head, something like a crown from the feel of it.

None of these changes were pain-free, each and every part of him feeling the changes down to the most miniscule levels.

"Gah!"

He didn't have much time left. He had to do _something now._

Looking deep within himself, he found some measure of strength to draw on, forcibly standing up and walking forth again. His steps and very gait were extremely awkward, his mind trying to adjust to a body that no longer really felt like his.

Because of this, his strides were both weirdly long and off-balance to him and he nearly fell forward over himself when he got even closer to the Demon.

He then really did fall over himself once he finally reached the platform the Demon was on.

He grunted in pain as some portions of his skin burst open as the changes were nearly finished, yet no blood poured out of these openings. For they didn't really feel like wounds despite the agony they brought with their existence.

Takashi got up… and looked upon the Demon with nothing but rage in his now completely black eyes, something akin to pure darkness leaking out the corners of them.

The Demon's current form had shrunk drastically ever since the changes had resumed, a sign of it almost fully possessing him, he guessed.

Indeed, it had shrunk so much in size that it was now Takashi, in part thanks to his greater height now, that looked down upon the Demon, whose current form remained in its crouching state even now.

The Demon's head looked up at him, unafraid. If anything, Takashi could gleam a sense of quiet triumph from it via their connection.

Balling his larger hands into fists, Takashi reared one back, just ready to attack this fucking thing, maybe interrupt the possession process if he hit it hard enough-.

-Only to stop just as he swung his fist, said fist stopping just an inch away from an unflinching Demon.

He didn't stop willingly – the Demon had stopped his fist for him, _through_ him.

His body… it no longer was his own anymore even if the possession process still wasn't quite completely finished just yet.

Something akin to tears poured down Takashi's sharpening features, for even as he struggled with all his might to move, this body no longer responded as well to his will anymore.

He'd lost.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!" He repeated this single cuss word over and over again, frustration and horror welling up within him.

Was this really how it was going to end?

 **Yes.**

The Demon's 'voice' replied to his unasked question… through his former mouth no less just before it fully disappeared from his face.

The Demon's current form, still dwindling in size, finally stood up, standing at perhaps just a foot or two shorter than Takashi now and shrinking ever more as bits of it could now be seen literally breaking off and flowing over to the boy's form.

And all around them, the 'world' that made up Takashi's soul began to fall apart into absolute nothingness as his strength waned.

This was it, the end of it all, it would seem.

…

…

But was it, really?

Ever a thinker despite what others may think of him, an idea came to mind.

Overpowering the Demon was impossible. It always had been.

But if he can't beat it through sheer power and will alone, then what if…?

It was likely a futile gesture, but at this point there wasn't much else left to be lost.

So with what sliver of control he still had left over this body, Takashi lowered his fist… and instead embraced the Demon's current form in a surprise hug, an action that genuinely took it by surprise…

…And also accelerated the process that much more as he gave in to it.

The Demon's current form then melded into Takashi's changing body.

And now… they were one.

Takashi's vision faded to black as this occurred.

The very last thing he 'saw' was the Demon somehow managing to look at his now sinking soul with his former eyes.

Takashi looked on back, resigned to the current conflict…

But far from beaten just yet.

* * *

As the boy's inner world, the very reflection of his soul, crumbled away to reveal the space between dimensions once again, the Demon took in a breath with its new body.

Slowly, he shifted about, making sure to move each and every individual muscle in an attempt to adjust to finally having flesh.

A moment later, it felt satisfied, but not quite 'happy.' Not just yet anyways.

There was still one little test left to do before it could say it had truly succeeded.

It turned to a 'nearby' dimension and almost hesitantly reached out a hand, with the full intention of touching it.

…

…

…

Its hand breached the dimensional wall and plunged into the dimension itself.

The Demon promptly froze, awaiting what, if anything, would happen next.

Here within this place between dimensions, time didn't quite function the same way it did in other dimensions, so it was able to spend what amounted to several minutes of standing there doing nothing whereas on earth, perhaps only half that time had taken place.

And nothing happened.

 _Nothing happened at all._

The Demon was elated – it could interact now without crushing everything as a result. Excellent!

It removed its hand from the dimension and stepped back, somewhat unsteadily as it still acclimated internally to its new body, now thinking.

It was far from oblivious as to what the boy had done earlier. That pillar of light that had breached their 'battle' and gone to earth…

…And in turn granted those closest to the boy power that they likely had only ever dreamed of.

The Demon was well aware of what sort of powers they now had at their disposal too. For the boy's imagination as a child had been quite a wild yet detailed one.

Having been utterly enraptured as a kid by those anime shows about superheroes and the incredible abilities they possessed, the boy's since then stilted imagination had come up with various 'heroes' and the like of his own true creation and it was these thought up powers and 'origin stories' which were remarkably detailed that the boy had ultimately imparted on those comrades of his.

The Demon, now adapting better to the body, could tell down to the most miniscule detail which person received which powers and to what levels.

Certainly, it was impressive – it could easily foresee those three final monsters eventually dying by their hands if they weren't careful.

But it knew those three titans wouldn't go down easily nonetheless.

However, why let them try to take care of those few remaining humans?

For now that it had obtained what it had long since desired, why not indulge a bit before going on its now unimpeded journey throughout this creation?

Besides, in a sense, it supposed it would only be fitting to erase those humans up close and personal… grant them some sense of closure with seeing their friend's body finally appropriated for its use.

If nothing else, it shall send them off knowing what had ultimately become of the boy, a sort of final mercy for them.

Satisfied with thinking through its next step, the Demon turned to leave…

…Unaware that the boy's will was far from suppressed just yet.

* * *

 **And there we go! The truth behind the powers the others have gained this chapter! So yeah, to try and explain it a bit better, Takashi was a very imaginative kid, heavily inspired by anime back then and like any other kid would often think up his own versions of heroes, powers and all. The difference, however, between him and other kids like that, is that he was much more detail oriented, thinking up some truly ludicrous chuuni-level powers and stuff.**

 **And on that note, regarding the groups' various abilities now, Kohta's powers were partially inspired by Tatsuya Shiba's material burst from the Irregular at a Magic High School, Saya's are a somewhat toned down version of Accelerator's from A Certain Magical Index, Rei's naginata and powers is from the Senshinkan visual novel that I believe I mentioned in the ending AN of the last chapter while Saeko's sword is the same one Okita Alter uses in Fate Grand Order whereas her powers are more in line with Soujirou Mibu from Kajiri Kamui Kagura, a visual novel by the same people who made the Senshinkan one.**

 **As for Shizuka, her powers are original as is her magical weapon, but her 'origin' now is the same as another fic of mine… and this fact will be plot relevant in a way, just not in the way you guys may end up thinking of.**

 **And Kyouko's and Alice's abilities, well, for now they will remain a secret but will prove relevant too.**

 **Hope you'll look forward to what comes next!**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	23. Chapter 23

As always, glad you guys liked the last chapter! Not going to lie, the last chapter had been one of the harder ones to write for this fic, if only because fleshing out certain parts of the groups' new powers proved pretty tough, even with the inspiration taken from the VNs mentioned before. That, and I was also a little concerned them getting powers wouldn't be too well received despite it having always been a part of the plan. But I clearly had been worrying over nothing, ha ha. You guys really are awesome!

Alas, the satisfaction of knowing you all were entertained by the last chapter is somewhat blunted by me having not been picked for the next step in the job process I've been mentioning the last chapter or two. Sadly enough, they'd decided to proceed forth with a few other people that they felt were more qualified and this news was given to me not even two full hours after I'd posted the previous chapter.

Don't really have anyone but myself to blame, really, given how lackluster my application had always been from the start. Nonetheless, I remain somewhat hopeful, having already applied for 7 or 8 other jobs since then, even a non-pay volunteer position to try getting some experience to add on my resume. Honestly, really hoping to get the volunteer one right now since immediate experience would help in the long run.

Yeah, not really the most amusing news I could give in this AN, but it is what it is. **TheDarkHollow,** sorry that you'll have to read this AN, but as always, your encouragement means a lot. Just want you to know that. And also, glad you'll be reading my other fics. Hope you find them enjoyable and easy to follow along, especially The God Slaying Wolf, which is relevant to this fic. And thank you as well, **flo463,** for your support!

Now then, enough of my moping; let's really talk business here for a minute – this fic.

As I'd been hinting at the past few chapters, the end is approaching and I can now say it's very near. While still a bit uncertain on how to divide up the remaining content planned, I can say with a high level of certainty that the epilogue will either be next chapter or the one after that, meaning this current chapter you'll be reading will be third or second to last.

And as I'd somewhat hinted at with the last chapter or two, this fic is honestly quite an important one amongst all the other ones I've written… just not quite in a noticeable way, at least not just yet. When I do get to that point within the epilogue, however, it's my hope it'll get you guys really excited for any future fics that I do.

Speaking of which, still trying to decide what specifically to do for my next fic, but nothing too forthcoming just yet. For now though, once this fic is done, I will be starting my rebooted novel and focusing on that for around 2 months before starting my next fic, assuming I have an idea for it by then.

So yeah, that's about where the status of this fic and future ones now stand. Just wanted to keep you guys in the loop in case you're interested.

Now then, onto the chapter!

Chapter 23

The three titans had made a comeback and as planned, it was with a vengeance.

The Leviathan had been the first one to make its move, having sunken as much of its massive body underwater to avoid any attacks before swimming under the small bit of land and suddenly launching itself upwards as fiercely as it could.

This resulted in the launching of the small land high into the sky and at ridiculous speeds, speeds so great that the people within, empowered or not, ended up slamming into the ground and left unable to move during this process.

This had allowed the Colossus more than enough opportunity to gird itself and jump right after it, smashing the barrier protected landed with all the power it could muster, sending it flying off into the horizon.

The bit of land would've likely traveled around the entire world a few times from the sheer force of the blow… if not for an abrupt interruption in their impromptu flight.

For not so long after the Colossus had knocked it away, the Giant had ran, genuinely _ran_ in the opposite direction, moving with a speed nothing its size had any right to.

The Giant steeled itself as the landscape came flying right at it, the titanic monster essentially meeting it halfway during its first flight here.

The Giant swung its left sword-arm first, knocking the land down only for it to slam into its right leg that it immediately kicked forth afterward, launching it back up.

Then in a flurry of motion, the Giant unleashed a torrent of slices that would've devastated the world itself had it really desired it. The strikes struck true with terrifying precision for a being so gigantic.

And yet…

The barrier endured without a scratch.

The Giant grunted in mild annoyance and prepared to up its assault – only to end up being somewhat surprised when those two teenaged girls, one armed with a sword and the other with a naginata, were able to get up somehow and attack through the barrier, their weapons clashing against its own.

Whether it was due to the nature of their strange new weapons or if they'd just gotten that much stronger physically was unknown, but they were able to actually _parry_ the next few swings of its swords with enough force to nearly throw it off balance.

But unlike the first time around, the Giant was much more prepared for such an absurdity. It drew back and launched a high kick at the side of the barrier sending it blasting across the open sky.

Now it was the Leviathan's turn again.

Although both of its eyes had been blasted out, it could still move around startlingly well thanks to very small feelers along its entire body, allowing it to even sense which way something afar was traveling due to sheer vibration alone.

And the veritable shockwave of the Giant's attack against the barrier protected land had been more than enough for it to perfectly pinpoint the exact direction it was now traveling in.

Bursting from the ocean below, it opened its massive mouth and gulped down the land whole.

However, it didn't quite swallow it.

Well aware that one of the humans within the barrier had been the one responsible for its loss of the eyes, it couldn't afford to swallow and let that human blast it from the inside out.

So instead, it swam as far down below as possible, heading for the openings in the ocean floor that led to the earth's core. And then when it got close, it spat out the land towards said opening with enough force to launch it all the way down there.

Then it swam away.

Just in time for the Colossus to sink itself down to where the crack was and plow all its fists into it with tremendous power.

If their power wasn't enough to crush that barrier, then perhaps a combination of their might and the earth's core will make a bit of a difference.

And sure enough, the barrier seemed to flash under the force it was being subjected to as the Colossus' attack nearly destroyed the core of the planet itself. The only reason why it didn't destroy the core is because the Demon would first like to observe this world for itself before destroying it, or so the three were assuming.

But the least they could do was rid the world first of the humans, something that these remaining ones were preventing them from doing by sheer virtue of surviving all this.

And to their amazement, as more and more of the crust seemed to rupture, exposing the mantle beneath, the barrier was surviving all this punishment.

Flashing not unlike a flickering light, no doubt due to their power and the exposure to the core having some kind of effect, but still remaining intact nonetheless.

And then like a ball, the barrier protected land seemed to bounce rather comically, smacking around with the mantle before shooting upwards into the Colossus' chest.

The Colossus quickly tried to back away, sensing a counterattack about to ensue, but it wasn't as fast underwater as it usually is above.

As such, it was immediately subjected to numerous attacks within what felt like the span of a second or two.

Sharp cuts, reminiscent of a sword yet not actually a sword.

Fierce, regeneration-negating slices from a naginata.

Water and bits of the surrounding crust being manipulated and pelted at it with extreme force.

Parts of its very flesh feeling as if they were imploding in what felt like a few shots.

The pain the Colossus had felt before had been minimal, just only worthy of acknowledgement and nothing more.

But now? Now it was truly hurt.

The Colossus let out a scream so loud that the ocean all around it parted from the sheer power and intensity of it, in turn allowing it finally a bit more movement as it backed away before the attacks could continue.

Alas, even then, it still had to raise its arms in slight defense when the not-slices continued, striking it from well beyond the physical range of any other creature.

Its scream of pain transformed into a growl of frustration. Frustration turned to fury and it got in close, its very stomps among the ocean floor causing the barrier protected land to be knocked just high enough into the open air long enough for it to deliver a small uppercut that sent it careening above the ocean and into the waiting sword arms of the Giant.

The Giant once again went on the attack just as the parted ocean began to fall, this time making sure to attack from a greater variety of angles. It moved with a grace truly unbefitting of its size even as its attack patterns grew ever more savage.

And once again, its attacks were to no success, the barrier still intact.

It would've growled, but then a sensation overtook the Giant as well as the other two titans.

It ceased in its furious assault and backed away several large steps as the land fell into the ocean just as the parted sections fully fell, sweeping it up in a relentless series of tidal waves that caused it to ultimately float away from the monsters.

Said titanic monsters no longer paid the bit of land and its remaining humans any mind…

…For the Demon was on its way.

* * *

"What is going on now?" Rei muttered. "Why'd they stop?"

Ever since those three monsters had come back for round two, their little stretch of land had been turned once again into a veritable pinball. Although the effects of both Shizuka's and Mrs. Komuro's combined barriers had allowed them all to remain more or less on their feet no matter how improbable, they all had still been knocked around quite a bit from the sheer force of the blows the barriers had to endure.

It was only thanks to a combination of Shizuka's power and the vastly heightened physical durability they all had received from their own power boosts that they'd emerged unscathed, though far from amused.

Hefting her nameless naginata, Rei squinted her eyes in confusion.

It had felt pretty good to ultimately fight back, but there was obviously no way things were over just yet. No way those monsters had suddenly decided to throw in the towel when they clearly could keep going a long while.

Furthermore, with how frustrated they appeared to have been getting, there truly was no real reason for them to suddenly stop like that, though that really went without saying as far as the naginata-wielding girl was concerned. It was hardly something that required an astute person to point out.

Nonetheless, the reason why she'd even said this at all was because she naturally wanted someone else, preferably Saya or Mrs. Komuro, the most knowledgeable people here, to provide a much needed answer.

But no answer was forthcoming.

In fact, no words at all were forthcoming right now.

A chill was traveling down her spine now, causing the battle ready girl to perk right up now, all but thrusting her buxom chest out as something felt like it was approaching from behind.

Rei whirled around, almost knocking over a nearby Hirano with her naginata in the process, not that the slimmer looking gun user paid much mind to this near miss.

Instead, everyone else had turned around too, looking at something that Rei just realized had still been there this entire time-.

The blackness that occupied the spot where Takashi had been standing last. When the Demon had shown up and grabbed him.

Rei's breath hitched as her mind subconsciously recalled this.

Given the growing chill in her spine, she really ought to not be feeling so hopeful right now… but how could she help it when she was so concerned for the boy who'd become so dear to her during this apocalypse?

The blackness flickered, causing anyone nearby to unconsciously take a step back….

But not her. She'd never step away ever again from him.

The two of them may have strengthened their struggling bond during this long time of crisis, but there was still so much they needed to talk about, so much she still needed to apologize for.

The way she treated over the past few years, how she'd become so quick to wrongly judge him as an indecisive slacker and more.

A not so small part of her felt that the end of this nightmare was finally here and by god, she was going to embrace Takashi here and now and fuck everyone and everything that may try to stop her.

The blackness flickered again. A figure began to emerge.

Rei felt the corners of her mouth turn upwards, her heart beating faster and faster.

"Taka-!" she began.

Only to stop when the blackness disappeared as the figure fully emerged.

Although different in appearance, she could just tell that it was Takashi.

Yet it wasn't Takashi.

The very feel that washed over her and undoubtedly the others felt so wrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrong!

This was Takashi… but it wasn't.

Not anymore.

And as she froze in place, the Demon looked upon her.

* * *

It's walked amongst this world a handful of times in its search for the boy, but it was only now that it has obtained what it's long desired that the Demon finally bothered to truly see beyond its now achieved goal.

It looked first to the naginata wielding girl and as it did so, it felt something minute stir deep within the recess of its new body. Although the boy's soul and subsequently his consciousness have been suppressed, it seems even now he yearned for this girl.

Interesting.

The Demon then switched its gaze from the frozen girl to the others nearby, all of whom had been standing perfectly still in what it assumed to be the work of shock. Once more, something within was stirring at the sight of each one of them.

But the Demon, although intrigued, paid them no further mind.

What did holds it interest was the current situation this world was in.

Those three monsters, standing off in the far distance, observing it, were awaiting its next order. Meanwhile, all around them, the world as humans once knew it was essentially no more, with only this one tiny bit of land being the only remaining chunk of the various continents and lands left. The rest of the planet was virtually all sea now and even that would remain to be seen given the damage those monsters had intentionally and unintentionally inflicted upon the ocean floor.

Oh well, hardly worthy of any consequence. With it now able to move about as it pleased, it could easily go forth in search of other worlds and dimensions that were far more interesting to explore and change as it pleased.

So, with this in mind… it no longer had a need for those monsters.

With nothing more than a simple thought, the three titans off in the distance were instantly erased from existence, affected so much so by the Demon's full might that even the very memories of them that these remaining humans had were affected in the process too.

The humans all moved again, the unintended side effect upon their memories no doubt wreaking havoc on them in a way.

And this in turn finally seemed to stoke emotions other than shock and despair in them.

The naginata wielder – Rei, something whispered from within it – was the first to make a move. Screaming in both fury and sorrow, she started to swing her weapon at it with speed and strength far, far above that of a normal human, the expected result of her having been granted power by the boy, Takashi.

Her technique, however, was all her own and something about it almost entranced the Demon, enough to allow her strikes to land…

To absolutely no effect.

This didn't seem to discourage the girl, who merely kept on attacking.

And now the other weapons wielder in the group joined the assault, swinging a blade that was as long as she was tall.

The instant the sword swings started to land on its body alongside the naginata attacks, the Demon was instantly able to figure out what each weapon was supposed to do.

In the midst of being attacked, it then glanced to the others once more and was able to sense what level of power they'd been granted, the sort of abilities they now possess.

It was impressive… by human standards, that is. Compared to its own might, however, it didn't even register as mere noise.

It didn't matter if the one named Rei unleashed that blade-slashing field of hers. It didn't matter how much killing intent the one named Saeko channeled into her attacks.

It didn't matter how much the one named Saya pelted it with rubble and other things with her manipulation of vectors. Nor would it matter how much the one named Hirano fired those blasts of his.

Against it, they all were still just as powerless as they'd been before.

And in the wake of their growing assault as the others started to attack it without fear of consequence, the Demon now assessed this final situation.

If it truly wanted to, with but a simple half-thought, it could strip them all of the power Takashi had granted them. It could even further sap their original human strength until their very bones struggled to remain together, much like what it had done to the boy earlier during their 'battle.'

Alas, it didn't do so. After all, what would it matter? They couldn't do anything to it at all beyond feebly lash out in rage and hopelessness.

The Demon began to levitate upwards quite suddenly, throwing off some of the attacks from Rei and Saeko in the process. Having already towered over them, it physically looked down on them all even more as it levitated upwards.

It did vaguely consider simply erasing them all, but as soon as it even entertained this thought, flashes of memories flood through its mind and overwhelmed its initial thought.

Yes, killing them directly wasn't worth it.

So instead, it flew ever upwards, its very existence causing the double layered barrier made by Shizuka and Iroha Komuro – _mom_ – to instantly cease to be in the process.

It flew higher and higher until it was at least two hundred feet above the ocean.

The Demon then looked off into the vast distance and, almost distractedly, began to fly in a random direction.

* * *

"T-Takashi…" Rei muttered, her voice cracking after all that screaming she'd just done.

And standing beside her now as she stepped up, Iroha could say she felt the same way as her son's childhood friend.

"We've… we've lost…." She mumbled in despair.

The Demon had succeeded in getting her son's body, the absolute worse case scenario. And now… what would come next would be…

She shook her head, daring not to even think of it.

Nonetheless, her despair grew. All of the horrible, horrible actions and inaction she'd taken against her son, all done out of pure indecisiveness, had been what led to this.

She… she was at fault for all this.

"Stop that…" Takeru suddenly spoke up softly as he walked up to her.

"D-Dear…" she began. "But-!"

Takeru shook his head, taking her hand into his in the process. He gave it a gentle squeeze and that was enough to make her cease talking.

And now, Iroha could only look at her beloved husband in confusion. How come he seemed so calm still? Why were his eyes so focused as he thought of something?

All around them, everyone had sported equally devastated expressions, especially her son's group. She could see Takeru now turn to face them all too just a second after she'd noted this.

"Come on now, everyone," he began. "It's not over just yet."

The tone of his voice as he uttered those words, so unwavering and certain of _something_ , was more than enough to get everyone to look at him in utter bewilderment.

"Takeru, just what the hell do you mean?" Kiriko, as usual, being the mouthpiece for everyone else.

Nearby, that sword girl, Saeko, nodded reluctantly. "Komuro-kun is… is…!"

"Not done and out just yet, I think," Takeru interrupted gently.

Iroha became so focused on her husband in that instant that she couldn't actually see what sort of expressions everyone else now sported, though a small part of her mind easily deduced their expressions were quite similar to her current one.

"What do you…?" Iroha began to whisper in absolute shock.

"Call it one hell of a hunch," Takeru began as he looked to her, smiling just a tad bit. "But if that Demon really was as bad of an entity as we've been making it out to be – and its nonchalant slaying of those three monsters is pretty damn good evidence of its nature – then why are we still alive?"

"We're beneath its notice…" mumbled out one Kyouko Hayashi, who was hugging a scared looking Alice.

"Well, yeah, that's true. But even so, wiping us out, the remainder of humanity, wouldn't even have taken a nanosecond. It could've killed us all in a literal instant with the absolute smallest fraction of its power and I could tell from its – no, Takashi's – face that it had been considering just that. But it didn't." Takeru's expression now hardened as he thought. "With the state the rest of the world had been left in, it shouldn't have any reason to have flown off like that to go sight-seeing or whatever. It seemed too… too erratic to normally do that. It would've just wiped out the planet and then moved on to whatever else it initially wanted to do, at least as far as I could guess it'd normally do. So why didn't it?"

There was a long silence as her husband seemed to await an answer, from either her or someone else.

And Iroha was unable to think of an answer to that at all. And neither could anyone else from the looks of it.

"Honey," Iroha eventually said. "What are you getting at?"

He squeezed her hand a bit more tightly now as he looked at her. What she'd mistaken for certainty in his eyes was actually hope, which had become more apparent now.

"I think our son is still conscious in there… and I think he's still hasn't given up the fight just yet."

* * *

Something about those words of Mr. Komuro was enough to make Rei silently gasp. As the fog of rage and despair now lifted off her, her observant mind now finally kicked in again, reviewing her assault against the Demon just a moment ago.

And now… now she was starting to see those same signs that Mr. Komuro had seen.

And despite how ridiculous the odds were still, she felt hope.

Takashi. He was still in there. He hadn't thrown in the towel just yet.

Her grip on her naginata tightened greatly as other feelings began to blossom within her.

"Takashi…" she muttered.

If he truly is still fighting in there, then he'll pull through.

She was certain of this now.

* * *

Saeko's eyes widened to an almost comical degree, a reflection of how shocked she was at those words.

Mr. Komuro's words had sounded more than a little shocking, but the more she now thought on it, the more sense it had started to make.

Memories of Komuro-kun's fight against 'doggy' came to the forefront of her mind now, the sword woman recalling the unrelenting fury and drive the young man had fought with, even when the odds had looked to be so far against him.

She remembered vividly the sudden burst of strength he'd exhibited when all had looked lost, how unyielding he'd been in ensuring their safety to the very best of his ability and beyond in that hellish situation.

And the more this began to replay in her mind, the more assured she began to feel now.

Yes, Komuro-kun had the spirit of a true warrior. No way he'd allow himself to be taken down so swiftly.

He truly was still in there, fighting from within.

She wished him the best of luck.

* * *

Saya huffed.

Of everyone there, she was probably the easily the quickest on the uptake, having understood what Mr. Komuro had been getting at well before he'd fully spelled it out to the others.

And, not at all to her own surprise, she found herself agreeing with the man completely.

After all, just how many times had she seen or heard of that idiot following through on everything he did, even when he knew it was stupid?

"Seriously," she muttered, trying to sound annoyed, but there was no denying how happy and hopeful she was feeling now. Her expression was now as soft as it would ever get. "That moron just never knew when to give something up."

No doubt about it now – Takashi was surely still persisting against the Demon.

"You better finish this soon, you idiot," she continued to whisper. "I need to give you a stern talking-to about making us worry needlessly."

* * *

Kohta shook his head, but with a growing smile on his face.

Yeah, that sure sounded like Komuro all right.

He may not have known his fellow male of the group that long, but the brief time spent was more than enough for him to know that he wasn't a guy who'd go down without a fight or easily at that too.

Resisting the Demon even after having his body taken over? Yeah, he could see Komuro doing something like that pretty well now.

Taking off his glasses to rub his tired eyes, Kohta's smile morphed into a grin.

"Well, that is why you're pretty much the leader, right?"

And it's only natural for leaders to always excel.

Kohta's grin disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, his expression now a little solemn.

"Come on, Komuro. End this before it's night again. It's bad on my eyes." He meant that last part as a mild joke to himself, but there was no joking tone to be found.

And so, alongside the others, he now awaited his leader's hopeful return.

* * *

Shizuka had inwardly gasped at Takeru-san's words. But her feelings of shock were quick to disappear right afterwards, the words having resonated deeply with her.

Yes, Komuro-kun is undoubtedly a remarkable boy – no, a remarkable _man_. A little mopey here and there, but reliable and quick to take action.

God, just how many times had he come to the rescue ever since they all first met in this apocalypse? How many times had he been willing to do the toughest and most dangerous things for their sakes? The mercy killing of Hisashi-kun, leading a horde of the undead on a chase away from them, constantly taking point whenever they traveled and thereby always putting himself in the position of being the first one to be attacked if spotted by zombies or monsters…

It was quite an extensive and impressive list despite how briefly they all had been together. It was enough to make something well up within her large chest, a heat of a certain nature that not even her newfound healing powers could dampen.

Putting a hand to her chest and gripping it tightly to the point of pain, Shizuka now smiled.

That's right. No way Komuro-kun was down and out just yet. He'll pull this off and come back to them all, just like always.

And this time around, when everything has been resolved, she fully intended to show him just how much she appreciated all he's done.

* * *

Kyouko took those words in silence, the only physical sign of her comprehending this being the widening of her eyes.

And much like the others, she too now felt hope rekindling within her.

Indeed, Komuro-kun wasn't the sort of person to be stopped by just this much.

And dear god, just how wrong she'd been about him. In the very beginning, before this hell on earth had ever come close to beginning, she'd thought him a slacker and something of a delinquent. A lost cause, if she'd dare allow herself to go that far.

But how wrong she'd been in the end.

Although all of them here had exhibited immense courage and wit in simply surviving up until this point, Komuro-kun had gone above and beyond the call of duty and all without ever truly wavering in the process too.

Yes, he may have been prone to doubt here and there, but never in regards to their chances at survival. He'd never once seemed to genuinely entertain the thought of them all dying. Oh, he'd certainly acknowledged such a possibility, but he'd done the very best he could to make sure they would all pull through, even if it often came at his own detriment.

Although not the savviest of people when it came to survival skills and the like, even Kyouko knew that the pointman in any group was the one most at risk of injury or even death when faced with threats. Yet Komuro-kun had never once hesitated to take up such a position for their sakes.

The sheer determination and grit he'd shown in fighting off that 'doggy' too before it could kill them… that more than anything had been what had truly made her heartbeat quicken considerably.

Never before had she thought anyone, much less a teenaged boy, capable of such reserves of indignation and inner strength. And all while dealing with more than his fair share of personal problems too.

Komuro-kun truly was a remarkable young man, one that Kyouko could now say she was starting to feel a certain way about.

And it was because of her faith in him that she now _knew_ he'd pull through this too somehow.

She just knew it.

* * *

Alice certainly made no effort to keep her gasp of shock quiet in the wake of Mr. Komuro's words.

But then, as the young girl began to truly comprehend what was just said, shock gave way to certainty.

She may be only a kid still, but she wasn't oblivious to the greater going-ons around her. While the whole 'Demon' thing was still a pretty big thing to wrap her head around, she understood that the Demon was a very, very bad creature but also a creature that was very, very strong too, so strong that even having a hope of beating it wasn't even funny…

But not for Takashi onii-chan.

From the moment she'd met him and the others, she'd worried greatly for their safety, especially after… after Zeke had died.

But now with the others having gotten super awesome powers like something out of an anime – herself included, though she didn't know what it was just yet, much less how to use it – the likelihood of them all staying alive had gone up a lot.

But when that Demon had shown up just now, those odds went all the way back down again…. At least until Mr. Komuro explained what was going on now.

And really, she should've known better.

She nodded now, fiercely so.

No way Takashi onii-chan was down for the count just yet. After all the things he's done for her and the others to keep them alive, there was just no way he'd been taken down for good yet. And if he really was the reason why they all had these amazing powers now then didn't that mean he had plenty of power for himself too?

In which case, he really was an awful lot like a superhero!

And if there's one thing Alice knew for an absolute fact – at least as far as she, a child, considered fact – superheroes always win in the end.

While all the others remained more or less silent in the wake of this information, Alice ran forth a bit, as far as the edge of this remaining bit of land let her go without falling off.

Taking a deep breath, she yelled out words that she could only hope her hero could hear.

"You can do it, Takashi onii-chan!"

* * *

The Demon remained silent as it usually did as it flew onward, unperturbed by anything… though it did briefly look back over its left shoulder upon vaguely hearing some words being shouted in its general direction despite now being more than a hundred miles or so away.

…

Its flight was done at a leisurely pace, yet this was entirely by its own lofty standards – though leisurely from its point of view, being able to reach the spot where New York had once been in the span of literal eye blink from more than a hundred miles away was far from the increasingly new normal.

It stared downwards as it flew just a bit more, at the spot where the Statue of Liberty had once been. And with just a tad bit of focus, the Demon was able to even see said landmark.

In fact, it was even able to see the surrounding land itself as it unconsciously peered back into the past, just a few days prior to when the apocalypse had begun.

As usual, it did this impossible feat with an effortlessness that would've terrified the remaining humans even more, but of course it paid this no mind.

Even now with a body to move around in, the very concepts of dimensional space and time were infinitely beneath it. If it so desired, it could effortlessly peer back in time to the very beginning of this world, when it had even first started to form or even further back to when _this_ universe even started

But it didn't do so. For whatever reason, it only felt like looking back only several days into the past and not a day further.

Remaining as quiet as always, it simply levitated in place for a moment before moving onwards in a most haphazard flight pattern.

It flew across the ocean where the continent of North America had once been, peering back into the past still in order to see what had once been, only to then make a U-turn in mid flight and then fly at speeds surpassing light without breaking the world towards the spot where Europe had once resided.

Again, it continued to peer into the past, seeing what had once been before the apocalypse had started. It then proceeded to fly all around the world in a truly random fashion, observing via the past the other continents that had since then been completely destroyed by those titans.

South America.

The Middle East.

Africa.

Russia.

Australia.

The North and South Poles.

And finally… Japan.

It decreased its altitude drastically as it flew, so much so that by the time it even reached where Japan had once been, it was literally walking on the water, not even causing ripples in it as it walked atop it.

The Demon looked around, seeing things, _people,_ that were no longer there.

Again, it remained quiet, but now this silence held an uncertain air about it.

Why was it so suddenly feeling this way? What could have possibly compelled it to go flying off like that in the first place when getting rid of those remaining humans up close had been its initial goal?

If it so desired, wiping them out from all of existence would be easy. As was the case with everything else it's done up until now, it wouldn't even take a simple thought to achieve such a feat. So, by all rights, it should just wipe them out and leave on the journey it has always wanted to go on.

And yet something was holding it back.

It walked on, its pace steadily picking up… until it eventually just came to a dead halt.

It looked directly in front of it, still peering into the past…

And seeing the gates to Fujimi High School right before it. It was lunch time, with students and teachers that had long since died walking around, eating and chatting away merrily, without worry.

A truly peaceful sight.

The Demon observed before turning and walking away, walking a route that it didn't know yet felt so familiar nonetheless.

It looked and saw others walking by various storefronts, with some workers there bidding a quick hello to certain people or calling out to the crowd, trying to rope them into the store.

Some of these echoes of the past even seemed to be looking to it for some reason.

The past blurred and then the Demon was seeing a handful of teens here and there, nasty looks in their eyes and bloodlust in the air. Thugs, or so they liked to think of themselves.

The Demon watched silently as the vision blurred, the thugs seemingly threatening it and even attempting to act on said threats and then the next, they were all beaten and bloodied.

The Demon could hear some light panting going on even though the thugs were all taken down. It took it only a nanosecond at the most to realize the panting sound was coming from the spot it was currently standing in, some alleyway off the main street.

That was when it realized what it was now seeing – memories. Takashi's memories.

This route it was walking, it'd been the route Takashi always took home from school. Those workers that had called out to it had been people that had called out to him simply because he'd become a familiar sight to them over time.

The thugs that had been beaten up were those that had once tried to harass Takashi simply because they thought he'd had an annoying look in his eyes and had arrogantly demanded him to show them respect or else.

And now more memories began to blur through its mind in addition to other things it hadn't been expecting.

Thoughts and desires, hopes and dreams, despair and nightmares. All of them were Takashi's and now it was beginning to overwhelm it.

Shocked to the point of stillness, the Demon eventually began to move again, clutching its head not in pain but rather out of a mix of disbelief and annoyance.

The boy…!

It had thought him beaten and broken, suppressed and never to see the light ever again.

It'd been wrong, terribly so.

The boy was still deep within, resisting now in an entirely different way.

The Demon finally made a sound, a gasp of pure shock.

It could feel it – the shifting of the tide.

What was happening now was something truly impossible, more so than anything it's ever done-

 _It was losing._

* * *

Deep within the Demon's very being was Takashi. His very essence, his very state of existence, was weak, drastically so, but he still persevered with all he had.

A small sense of triumph welled within him, but he dared not get his hopes just yet.

When the Demon had finally taken over his body, Takashi had nearly been completely suppressed, the only reason why his self still remained even remotely active being because the fucking Demon had thought him finished and hadn't bothered double checking.

And it'd been here from within that Takashi had decided to play his final card.

Overpowering the Demon the more conventional way was impossible. It didn't matter how much fucking willpower he had or how much power he turned out to possess – the Demon was simply too god damned strong, too 'big' a foe and the only reason why he'd even lasted that long against it was because it'd been far too cautious in how it dealt with him out of fear of destroying his body.

But here on the inside? That was a different matter.

Just as the Demon had whispered to him prior to their battle, having tried to make him submit quietly, Takashi now sought to do something similar only nowhere near as quietly now.

Here within the Demon, its very self had mingled with his own and in doing so, had filled him with its thoughts, its desires. And while he wouldn't say he fully understood it, he now at least had a pretty decent idea of what the Demon was intending to do.

The best analogy or comparison or whatever the fuck the proper word he is – he may be smarter than he looked, but that didn't make him a wordsmith or whatever – was that the Demon was kind of like someone moving into a new place in an entirely new neighborhood, eager to see what the new place and surrounding areas were like before getting around to personalizing their new home exactly the way they wanted it. That meant redecorating and potentially resulting in their new home looking nothing like how it initially did.

The Demon's plans were something along those lines – it sought to move into this reality and make its new home. Sounded almost pleasant in a way… only its sense of aesthetic combined with its complete inability to truly empathize with all the fragile life here in its desired home meant that everything and everyone here would end up so utterly warped that life as all lifeforms defined it truly would be upturned into something right out of nightmares.

He'd gotten a glimpse of what the Demon considered truly beautiful and Takashi wanted absolutely no fucking part of it. He'd thought his nightmares were bad, but they seemed like the greatest of dreams in comparison to what he'd seen in the Demon's mind…

But even so, and much to his own amazement, he could kind of understand the Demon now, sympathize with it.

At the end of it all, it simply wanted somewhere to belong, a place that it could truly be called its own and be able to do things that would truly break up the monotony that had once been its lonely existence.

He'd been almost the same way, his nightmares and depression and the way his mom had initially treated him having left him feeling so very out of place within his own fucking home, to the point where he'd had a hard time even calling it home in later years. The same thing had applied to school too, his own demeanor having isolated him from most others and having ultimately led Rei to start dating Hisashi even when not factoring in other shit. His days leading up to the apocalypse had been as tedious as could be, routine to such a degree that even without all this bullshit with the Demon, Takashi couldn't have imagined himself ultimately turning out that much differently.

But then the apocalypse did happen… and despite all the horrors and dangers that had come with it, he'd gotten a break from the monotony. Parts of him that he'd felt had been lost to history had resurfaced and he'd formed bonds with others that he never would've imagined doing normally.

And as much as he could understand the Demon now, he wasn't about to fucking let it get away with all this shit.

And so he'd attacked the only way he could in this state. He showed the Demon as much of his memories as was possible through his point of view rather than from an outside perspective like it had done so earlier.

He showed it the school, the street vendors and even those petty ass thugs that had started shit with him on a few occasions. And now with his perspective being significantly different from how it was before the apocalypse, Takashi was able to view the past in a far different light, seeing the good and calming in his previously everyday life.

And it was these things that he heaped relentlessly upon the Demon, their connection still there and it being the only fucking way that he was even able to do this at all. If he'd tried to do this entirely on his own to it, it simply wouldn't have been possible at all.

So, yeah, looks like that connection between the two of them had ended up being a blessing in disguise after all.

He couldn't overpower it… but if nothing else, he could at least forcefully make it understand things from _his_ perspective, give it the very thing it had been lacking – empathy.

Takashi highly doubted he was going to make the damned thing completely turn over a new leaf or whatever, but at the very least, he hoped to make it feel just one thing towards its current goals: doubt.

If he could just make it even remotely doubt what it was intending to do, even remotely reconsider its course of action, he could hopefully use that moment of figurative weakness to wrest control of his body.

And so, he kept at it.

The happier times from his childhood, the other kids he used to hang around with other than Rei and Saya, the friendliness of the neighbors. The few and in-between moments where his parents had shown their love to him.

And then he connected those memories directly to the more recent ones.

The small and quiet yet powerful moments he'd shared with his friends, the building of trust between them all as they'd silently vowed to keep each other alive.

His mending relationship with Rei.

The mutual respect and admiration and maybe even something more between him and Saeko.

The equally mending relationship with Saya, the pinkette's use of the word 'idiot' no longer carrying the angry tone it once had when addressing him.

The understated trust and dependency between him and Shizuka.

His recent and quiet but strong comradery between him and Hirano.

The trust that Kyouko had in him.

The reliance Alice had on him and the others and the almost desperate certainty she had in them always being around.

He weaponized all of this against the Demon relentlessly, throwing out memory after memory with all the emotions and thoughts involved at it.

But the Demon's will remained as strong as ever. Even then, Takashi refused to throw in the towel just yet.

As strong as the Demon's will was though, he could feel it – the resistance. The Demon was making an active effort to endure what he was doing to it.

If he had a mouth right now, Takashi would be smiling. He was getting through to it in some respect, it seemed.

He doubled his efforts, tripled them, _quadrupled_ them. He absolutely refused to lower the intensity even one single iota.

And all the while, he could feel the Demon continuing to walk, almost aimlessly as its viewpoint became stuck in the past.

Until…

Until…

Until…!

….!

Takashi could sense it, the Demon stopping where his home had once been. Said entity was peering further back into the past as a result of his assault, seeing those distant childhood days of his. Seeing them… and in turn outright experiencing the emotion involved.

The childish joy.

The wonder.

The absolute contentment with simply _being._

All those feelings and more the Demon was now experiencing.

Takashi – figuratively speaking – held his breath. Something felt like it was bending just a bit, weakening.

The Demon's will.

Doubt, or at least something akin to it, finally crept into the Demon's very being.

And Takashi latched onto this opening with all the strength he could muster.

Rather than attempt to drag the Demon 'down,' he used this moment to pull himself 'upwards,' towards the figurative forefront of his own body.

He succeeded in doing so and in that following instant, it felt as if him and the Demon were literally side by side, almost like being in the front seats of a car.

And to go along with such a comparison, Takashi now took this chance to try and take the wheel.

The Demon was, for lack of a better way to put it, dazed, not quite all there anymore. No doubt, it was reeling from the new sensations it'd been struck with.

But it was far from out just yet.

Immediately, Takashi felt that same resistance push back against, trying to push him down into the depths yet again.

However, this time around, it was Takashi and not the Demon that had the advantage.

The Demon's will was still not quite up to snuff like usual. The Demon was off-balance, drastically so and this was apparent in its struggle.

The power difference is and always will be in the Demon's favor. But in this moment and this moment alone, it was Takashi that was swiftly turning out to be the one to gain ground.

"lEAVe mE BE!" Takashi finally uttered with _his_ body, his words coming out rather garbled due to lacking a mouth and all.

With one final and mighty push, Takashi's self was able to shove aside the Demon within and wrest control of his body again.

But unlike him earlier, the Demon didn't go screaming into the depths of his soul or whatever. No, the Demon still was clawing away trying to get at him.

The fucker was getting quite violent in here and that alone was enough to make Takashi feel a pain that went beyond a physical level.

Still in control of his body, but feeling said control being threatened, Takashi flew upwards at massively hypersonic speeds before heading well past the planet's orbit, at which point he accelerated well past the point of the speed of light. Far, far, FAR beyond such a point, in fact.

He was only vaguely aware of shooting past entire solar systems and galaxies in a veritable instant, his speed increasing more and more until-.

Until finally, he was breaching entire dimensional walls, his speed now transcending beyond the measly confines of time and space.

And all the while the Demon struggled still.

Takashi could only let out a mighty scream that shook all of existence, literally. He may be running the show right now, but the Demon's possession of his body was just that complete, having access to all of the Demon's transcendent power.

The Demon's struggle grew fiercer, but the same doubt from before was still there.

And all Takashi could do was try to capitalize on that right now.

"Listen… LISTEN TO ME, DAMN IT!" he roared. "THIS IS MY BODY! AS OF RIGHT FUCKING NOW, YOU'RE NOTHING MORE THAN A VISITOR!"

His words, overflowing with more and more emotion along the way, proved to be surprisingly enough to quiet the Demon. Not enough to stop it in its tracks entirely, but it did give Takashi some wiggle room here.

He tried to calm himself as best as he could. He'd come too far just now to fuck this up by being too rash.

"…You want to look around, right? See the sights, see what else is out there… to live, basically?" He spoke softly now, trying to appeal to its goals. "Well, I guess I can agree with you on that much… but wiping out whatever doesn't suit your tastes? Now that's just a shitbag move."

Again, he projected unto it his memories. He tried to establish a new kind of connection with it now, tried to show that – much to his own chagrin, frustration, and disgust – there was perhaps something similar about the two of them.

His attempt must have worked for the Demon quieted down even more, its resistance ebbing away.

And then, it spoke to him. Somewhat, that is.

… **What are you trying to propose here….?**

This 'voice,' sounding almost subdued now, echoed out to him from within.

The Demon, undoubtedly still trying to cope with the sudden turnaround of this situation, was now sounding almost interested to hear what he now had to say.

Feeling many complex emotions running through him now as he began to talk, Takashi could only hope that maybe, just maybe this will turn out alright.

He and the Demon talked for what felt like hours on end thereafter, neither side quite so willing to budge.

But eventually… an accord of sorts was struck.

An accord that ended with Takashi still in control of his own body, changed as much as it was.

No longer feeling as if the Demon was going to start up again, Takashi finally allowed himself to feel the briefest sense of elation as he finally turned to leave.

It was finally time to head back now.

To the others.

To home.

* * *

 **Hot damn, sure didn't expect it to turn out quite this long, ha ha.**

 **Now then, just to address some things here. Firstly, the encounter between the Demon and the others was almost awkwardly short because, let's face it, they had absolutely no chance against it. In comparison, ants would have an infinitely better chance of destroying the galaxy than they did of doing anything of note against the Demon, hence why it was necessary to write this chapter in such a way that Takashi managed to save them at the last minute there.**

 **And on that note, the final conflict between Takashi and the Demon. As stated constantly throughout the chapter as well as previous ones, the Demon is far and away the most powerful thing to ever exist. Even with his awakened power, Takashi doesn't even come close to comparing to it. As a result, any kind of genuine power struggle between the two would always end in a literal instant and in the same way – with Takashi's loss and by extension, all of creation's loss.**

 **That's why Takashi had to 'fight' the way he did in this chapter, striking at the Demon from the figurative shadows in an attempt to even the playing field. In the end, it may have come down to a contest of wills, but by that point, Takashi had managed to rattle the Demon in ways it's never been exposed to before and it was this that made it possible at all for him to wrest control of his body away from it.**

 **However, keeping said control would've been a different story. As off balanced as the Demon was emotionally, it would've eventually recovered and proceed to take over Takashi again. Him suddenly deciding to talk to it and eventually striking an accord with it was ultimately a last-ditch, split-second decision that he prayed like crazy would work.**

 **As to what this accord is and what will follow… heh, well, that will be revealed in the next chapter. I do hope you all will look forward to it.**

 **Until next time, everyone. Take care!**


	24. Epilogue

And I'm back, everyone!

And I'm here to say just one thing: welcome to the final chapter!

Ha ha, honestly I feel a little surprised too about this. I know I said in the previous chapter's AN that it was likely the second to last one, but even now, it almost feels a little to hard to believe the end of this fic is already here.

To think I was able to start and end this fic so soon… compared to how long previous fics had been, it's kind of absurd to now look back on this one and realize it's only 24 chapters long, just one chapter short of my first multi-chapter fic!

I suppose this is a good thing though; dragging this fic out would've been an extremely bad move, given how I'd set up certain things. I suppose I could've maybe thought up some more content, push this fic past the 30 chapters point… but that really would've just been pushing it, especially in the final stages.

Though whenever I get around to working on my next fic – still thinking of an idea for it, by the way – I can't help but feel that one will definitely be longer than this one, heh!

Whelp, beyond this, I really don't have much else to say other than thank you! **TheDarkHollow, X59, flo463, Joker wx** , you guys are my most consistent reviewers for this fic and for that and your support, I thank you! And of course, my thanks extends to all others who've reviewed/favorited/followed this fic as well! It always makes me feel happy when I not only get to write what I want, but when others are able to genuinely enjoy it too.

If at all possible, I hope you guys will check out my next fic whenever I get around to it, which again may not be for about 2 months or even longer. After all, it's about time to start my rebooted novel too… and I've yet to even think of a damn working title, ha ha ha!

Now then, let's wrap this up with a bang!

Epilogue

Takashi had his eyes closed for a long while, not asleep, but certainly resting to some degree.

He had no real track of time as he rested, time having become the pinnacle of meaninglessness to him now. He could've been lying here for only the smallest fraction of a second or minutes or hours or even days.

But he didn't worry much; he knew when to wake up.

Which was now, to be honest.

His eyes opened in an instant and all he saw was clear sky, that and plenty of birds flying about without a care.

He sat up and stretched his body, which still retained the changes from when the Demon had fully taken over it back then.

It's been a few months since that nightmare had finally come to an end, him having been able to talk the Demon down after it all.

Since then, things have changed significantly.

For one thing, the world was back to the way it was before, all the landmasses and cities restored to what they used to be like. This was due to, when he'd finally met up with the group following his talk with the Demon, him approaching Alice and gently calling forth the power he'd given her to the surface.

Said power didn't really have a name nor had he or Alice ever really bothered to think of one for it, but it was essentially to create an ideal world – a form of reality warping so powerful that it had literally overwrote the previous world, which had been utterly devastated during the apocalypse and especially by those three titan monsters, and had replaced it with the one Alice had apparently been desperately dreaming of ever since that hell began.

In this case, it was how the world used to be before the apocalypse occurred. And in this world, another feat that would've been considered flat out impossible by most had occurred as well – all the people and animals that had died during the course of the apocalypse had been brought back to life.

It truly had been a most wondrous occasion for all that had lost family and loved ones thanks to those blasted monsters, but at the same time, everyone who'd died had retained their memories of the previous world.

They remembered the monsters and the zombies, the sheer amount of havoc they'd wreaked upon everything. They remembered how such nightmarish situations had brought to the surface many people's true personalities – some of those being the most heroic people alive and others the pinnacle of cowardice and greed and depravity.

Takashi didn't have to use his newfound power one bit at the time to know that even if everyone was alive, many relationships would never really be the same ever again… but even so, surely there was room for growth. If he could go from a happy kid to a depressed teen to a determined young man, then surely people a hell of a lot better and worse than him could do something similar.

Alas, as good of a thing it was to have restored the world, things hadn't looked so good for him despite the reunion he'd had with the others following the final conflict.

Perhaps it was due to the Demon's own existence, which vastly exceeded even the very concept of dimensional space and everything else, but somehow when everyone was revived, they were also revived with knowledge of the Demon's existence too. The only reason mass hysteria hadn't taken place was because they also were somehow aware that things were over on that front.

Maybe Alice's knowledge and thoughts on things had leaked into everyone when she finally awakened her power and used it? Takashi honestly didn't know but wasn't going to complain. It sure beat having who knows how many fucking people trying futilely to hunt him down or whatever.

Still, seeing the world act so subdued and trying to move on in the wake of such a catastrophe had been far from good for his mood. It hadn't helped either when he tried to his newfound power to cloak his own presence and live for a while among society, yet no matter how well he did so, others around him always seemed to sense when he was near and their expressions of fear had really been getting to him.

It would seem that even now, the Demon's very existence was so overbearing that no manner of concealment could keep it fully at bay now.

Because of this, he was left with no choice but to retreat somewhere well away from society in general.

Currently, he was in the mountains out in the northern most parts of Japan. But yesterday, he'd been over in Alaska and some odd days before that had hidden out in a pyramid in Egypt.

He tried to stay on the move, having put his newfound power and the like to good use by getting to explore a fair bit.

It'd been a pretty interesting experience especially since he no longer had to worry much about other things. Plus… his travels had also helped to placate it – the Demon.

Even now, he could feel it within him, currently content but ever waiting.

It was enough to make him let out a sigh despite still having no mouth in his changed state.

But he did his best to suppress said sigh as soon as he let it out; he didn't want his incoming visitor to think he was falling into a funk.

And just as he did this…

"Takashi…" said his visitor as she arrived at the peak of the mountain he was on. "…Sighing, huh?"

Takashi inwardly grimaced. Looks like she could tell anyways.

"It's still just a lot to take in, you know?" he said, trying to excuse himself here. He then sized her up, his eyes all but piercing her very soul, almost literally in fact. But he did so out of concern and nothing else. "How have you been, Rei?"

One Rei Miyamoto smiled softly and walked further up to him before turning and plopping down by his side. The difference in both height and physique between them was really quite comical due to how obvious said difference was. It was almost enough to make Takashi shake his head.

"It's been okay. School is going to resume in another month or two-,"

"Ah, so hell on earth still exists after all," Takashi quipped.

Rei rolled her eyes and continued with a smile. "Other than that, nothing else new. Well, aside from us still trying to get fully used to our powers and all."

She and the others still had the powers granted to them by Takashi from back then. And with nothing else to really do since then other than tracking down and reuniting with other family members and loved ones, they took to seeing just what else they could really do with their abilities.

"I see… that's cool. How's your parents doing? … And how are mine?"

"They're doing great," Rei said, her smile growing as she seemed to be remembering something. "Ever since my mom and I have met up with dad again, we've all been pretty much glued at the hips outside of my training. And your parents are doing good. They're concerned with how you've been doing recently too."

She looked at him pointedly.

Takashi could only nod.

Since the end of the apocalypse, his relationship with his parents had improved considerably, especially with his mom when she'd finally sat him down and had a heart to heart with him.

Although he'd understood her reasons, forgiving her for the neglect and coldness hadn't exactly been high on his list of things to do at the time, something she perfectly understood. But even so, their outpouring of emotions and more to one another had helped to clear the air between them. And ever since he's gone on the figurative road, he's made it a point to head back home every other week to sit down and have dinner with them or otherwise just talk. The best part about this was that during these times, he didn't have to worry about concealing himself – all the neighbors who'd survived alongside his friends up to the end were more than aware of what had happened between him and the Demon and were very accepting of it all. So much so, in fact, that he could actually stroll around the neighborhood without concealing himself and be greeted by them as if things truly were fully back to normal.

However, as much as he was beginning to enjoy life again… it would all soon be coming to an end.

And that was the true question Rei had for him, disguised partially by the genuine question of concern she was relaying from his parents.

"I've been okay," he stated neutrally and to his amazement, realized he was telling the truth there. "I mean, things still feel so unreal for me… but somehow, it's not all that bad."

Ever since the Demon and him have reached an accord and his own body fully adjusted to it dwelling within him, he's been genuinely _merging_ with the Demon, their very existences becoming one yet with their minds still separate somehow. Because of this, he's become able to see things that none of the standard five senses could ever detect and it's been one seriously trippy fucking experience from time to time.

"And how's your… tenant?" Rei asked, the girl now looking a bit worried.

"It's been behaving," Takashi began. "What I put it through before finally talking things over… it's changed it in some respect, it seems. It no longer wants to make everything suit its aesthetic sensibilities, but it still wants to explore more than ever before."

And that right there, was the very heart of their accord, their agreement.

In exchange for letting Takashi have control and retain it even as the possession gradually became a genuine merging process, the Demon wished to see what else this creation had to offer. It wanted to travel, see the sights, take in the wonders… as well as see what other lifeforms may have to offer. Not in any nefarious way, but out of a genuine desire to simply see how diverse life can be now.

All in all, not a bad deal at the outset… but part of this deal also meant that at some point, Takashi would have to leave this world behind and travel afar.

This universe, other dimensions and realities, literally each and every single spot that can be traveled to within this creation, the Demon wanted to see.

And Takashi, for the sake of their accord, must provide.

Thankfully, the Demon's new but still atrophied sense of empathy was just good enough to allow Takashi something of a reprieve, one where he could live here on earth for just a while longer, maybe several more months at most, provided Takashi makes it a point to explore every single little spot worth noting on the planet.

For the sake of being able to spend more time with Rei and the others, Takashi was most eager to accommodate to this particular demand.

Rei now seemed to bite her lip. "You… really are going to have to leave at some point, huh?"

Slowly, Takashi nodded. "Yeah…"

When he'd returned following the final conflict between him and the Demon but before coaxing Alice's new power into awakening, he'd made sure to explain just what the hell had ultimately gone down between him and the Demon.

Needless to say, while they'd all been relieved that the Demon would no longer be an active threat, they'd also been more than a little upset to know the price Takashi would have to pay.

There was an extremely high likelihood that once he left this world, they truly will never see him ever again.

That's why his friends and family were all so demanding to have him around as much as possible nowadays, something he was trying his best to provide in the process of also trying to satisfy the Demon's demand.

But for all his newfound power thanks to the merging process with the Demon, there was still only so much he could do when he was still very much learning his newfound capabilities, which seemed truly limitless. Maybe when he did fully master the extent of this power, he could learn to be everywhere and nowhere simultaneously or some shit like that, but until then… he was going to have to leave and likely never return.

Rei's entire form tensed up, her hands balling into fists. Naturally, the confirmation he was to leave one day was upsetting her.

Slowly, he lifted his right arm and wrapped it around her, pulling her in close. She eagerly leaned into his side when he did this, her head resting against his torso.

It was very slight, but tears were beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. "Is this really the only way."

"Yeah."

"Damn that Demon."

"Yeah."

They both fell silent, instead simply sat there, trying to enjoy one another's presence as much as possible.

Their relationship, over the course of the apocalypse and the past few months, had progressed to such a point that simply being near one another like this, cuddling almost as if they were an actual couple settling down to watch a movie, was enough to provide some measure of fulfillment to them both. But not completely – the moment was ruined by the inevitable future that was occupying both their minds.

"I… I don't want to lose you," Rei said, stating these words in a quiet but strong voice.

"I don't want to lose you either," Takashi replied without hesitation.

Rei shifted about and he let her do so as he continued to watch the slowly setting sun. He hadn't realized how much time had passed since she'd come to him.

But he was more surprised when Rei positioned herself so that she was practically in his lap, directly facing him.

"R-Rei?"

"I… I love you, Takashi," she said. "I know this is probably coming out of nowhere for you, but I mean it."

Takashi could only be completely silent in response to those words. Even the Demon, usually a somewhat 'talkative' entity that was always egging him on to head to somewhere new to it, was almost eerily silent.

In the end, all he could manage was an "E-Eh?"

"Will you…" Rei bit her lip as she hugged him, trying and failing to fully wrap her arms around his torso. "Will you love me right here? I… I want to at least have something to remember you by."

Takashi could only stare at her, so utterly shocked as to literally freeze like a statue. But as he looked into her eyes, full of love and lust, her body slowly grinding up against him in a way that he was given a clear view of her lack of a bra under her shirt to reveal her full and still growing breasts, he knew there was only one way he could respond.

After all, he felt the same way too.

He gently gripped her shoulders and lifted her up just enough to reposition themselves.

And then, they proceeded to embrace one another.

* * *

A week goes by since then.

Takashi was now paying Saeko a visit at her dojo.

He'd initially been a little worried about popping in when others might be around, but when she'd called out for him, she'd also informed him of when was the best time to do so to avoid being detected by others.

Inwardly, Takashi was really grateful for having given his friends those powers. Not only had it helped them survive against those monsters, it had also established a connection between them all. This connection allowed Takashi to be able to sense where they were at and even somewhat relay telepathic messages between him and them. They in turn could do the same thing.

This was how Rei had found Takashi at the mountains, after all.

But he digresses.

Having fashioned for himself a large coat to cover up anyways – "Damn, what a sight I must be," he'd mumbled when he created the coat – he entered the dojo silently.

He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, really. Maybe to see however many practitioners Saeko and her father had under their wing to be in the middle of training or something, but instead the dojo was completely empty.

Well, empty save for just one person.

There, kneeling on the floor in what he could only assume was a meditative pose was none other than Saeko, dressed in standard kendo gear. A light sheen of sweat was apparent on her features and in her clothes as well, a sign of how hard she'd must have been training recently.

There on the floor before her was the odachi she'd obtained as a result of her power, Rengoku if he remembered the name right. Which he did; after all, all of their powers had come from his imagination from long ago.

He walked forth, his changed body moving silently despite his new size. "Saeko," he called out gently, hesitant to disturb the young woman, even if she had called him over in the first place.

"Komuro-kun," she said with a delicate smile, opening her eyes to look at him. "I'm glad to see you're doing well."

She stood up and hefted Rengoku up too. Takashi couldn't help but marvel at the grace she was exhibiting with such a simple action, especially with how long the odachi was. Her expression then hardened for the slightest of seconds in concentration and the blade then disappeared in a flash of light, Saeko having de-summoned it.

"Likewise," he said. "Uhm…"

He wasn't too sure what to say right now. Small talk didn't really seem all that appropriate for some reason right now and it didn't look as if Saeko was troubled by something.

"Is something wrong?" he ultimately asked, feeling sheepish. "When you called out to me, well, you sounded serious."

Saeko nodded. "Nothing's exactly wrong… but there is something important that must be said… and done."

Takashi couldn't help but pause just when he'd been about to speak. He was getting a certain vibe here for some reason and he wasn't sure of what to think.

"You'll be leaving soon enough, won't you? Once you've explored every inch of this planet, that is," Saeko continued, her voice now soft.

"Ah, yeah. I likely will be leaving within the next few months or so at most," Takashi replied.

For the second time, Saeko nodded. "You'll be quite busy in the coming months then… in which case, this may be one of the last few times I'll be able to have all you to myself like this…"

That certain vibe was getting stronger now. Much stronger. In fact… he could literally smell it.

Saeko wasn't just sweating under those clothes of hers…

Inwardly, Takashi gulped, realizing where this was going. And when Saeko started to slowly strip off the kendo gear she was wearing, he couldn't help but take a step back at how straightforward she was being right now.

"U-Uh, Saeko," He began, unsure of what to say.

But Saeko cut him off before he could even fully start to gather his thoughts.

"I know about you and Miyamoto-san," Saeko said with a small and amused smile, still slowly stripping off the gloves and chest plate she wore. "And she knows about this… and so do the others."

Takashi's mind blanked. "Others?"

Saeko chuckled a bit and quite huskily at that too. "You're a lot more popular with women than you think, Komuro-kun. And how could you not be after all that's occurred during the apocalypse?"

By now, she'd slipped off the rest of her clothing and stood there proudly in the nude.

Takashi's eyes couldn't help but drink in her form – her tall, lithe and toned figure, covered in a light sheen of sweat all over that highlighted her light but healthy skin. Her breasts, while a cup size smaller than Rei's, were still easily larger than most other women's and were startlingly perky for their size, her nipples evidently hard.

And there, her, ah, 'sheathe' – Takashi was far too embarrassed right now to use the actual term – was positively dripping.

He was entranced by the sight before him and was rendered unable to speak when she walked up towards him, a sway in her flared hips. She undid the ponytail her hair had been in and he watched as her purple locks pretty much cascaded down her back.

"During our times of need back then," Saeko began. "You did your very best to deliver. You functioned as a leader without even realizing it, rallying us and protecting us whenever you could yet never doubting that we could protect ourselves too. And that's only the tip of the iceberg, Komuro-kun… Without even meaning to, you've taken a special place in my heart and in the hearts of the others. And now… now is the time for all of us to show you just how much you truly mean to us. Because after this, we… we may never see you again."

Saeko was so close now that she was able to easily reach out and grab his coat's zipper, which she started to slowly zip down.

"And I will not stand for letting my feelings go unsaid to you," she said.

Finally undoing the zipper and removing the coat off him, she looked him dead in the eyes, lust and resolve in her gaze.

"Tell me…" she began seductively. But that wasn't it either; Takashi could hear just the slightest hint of worry in her voice, worry that she may go unreciprocated. "Do you feel the same way, Komuro-kun?"

Something in him snapped at those words.

And so, rather than speak, he decided to show Saeko how he, in turn, felt.

It was a very memorable time for them both.

* * *

"About time, idiot," Saya huffed out, hands on her hips and all.

Takashi, despite himself, almost rolled his eyes. "You just never change, Saya," he couldn't help but drawl out.

It's been yet another week since his 'meeting' with Saeko and now here he was at the Takagis. Seeing both Souichirou and Yuriko Takagi alive and well alongside their men had done wonders for his mood today and so he couldn't help but get just a bit sassy with the pinkette before him.

Currently, he was in her room, having been invited over to meet and talk. From how Saya had put it, she was getting bored recently since there was only so much she could to pass time nowadays.

Saya rolled her eyes. "Like you're one to talk? Idiot." She tried to sound harsh, but failed. There was more than a small hint of affection in that term now and she had a small yet toothy smile on her face when she'd invited him in.

Here among people that knew and liked him and even respected him, he didn't have to cover up like he did when he went to Saeko's, but he couldn't help but feel a little out of place doing so amongst how fucking fancy and grand the Takagi mansion was.

Saya's room was no exception, which was like a fusion between a standard bedroom and a library, bookshelves lining the farthest wall and packed to the point of nearly falling apart with books. There was Saya's bed near said shelves, easily far larger than any other bed he's ever seen and off to the corner was a large desk for her to do her studying in addition to a table for which she could dine by herself or with a few others if she so desired.

He almost shook his head. Somehow, he forgot how loaded her family was with money.

Saya sat on her bed while he took a seat at the desk's chair. It was a bit too small for his taller and larger frame so he had to flex his power just a tad bit, making it just big enough to accommodate him.

This naturally didn't go unnoticed by Saya.

She quirked an eyebrow. "Finally getting used to that power of yours, eh?"

Takashi nodded. "Heard you've been getting fully used to yours too, right?"

"Oh please," she said haughtily. "I'm a genius, remember? I mastered my power as soon as I even got it."

"Right and I'm sure the little physics experiments and stuff you and my dad have been up to haven't resulted in you accidentally launching yourself across rooms," he snarked.

If he had a mouth, he'd smile right now at how much Saya was blushing from embarrassment. As smart as she is, even she had some trouble fully mastering her vector manipulation.

Saya let out a 'hmph!' and folded her arms under her breasts. "Like you're really one to talk?"

Takashi could only shrug non-committedly. Ever since gaining all this power, he's definitely been having some trouble adjusting. He already lost count of the number of times it took him to get used to ignoring the laws of causality and other concepts.

And on a more serious note, it genuinely amazed him at how well he was even able to hold back all this power in the first place, otherwise the entire universe would've paid the price for his loss of control. However, he suspected the Demon was helping him regulate things.

That aside, it was because he was still getting used to his power and seemingly limitless abilities that he hadn't been the one to directly restore the world and revive the dead – far too great a margin for error, especially with how hard it'd been to even adjust to the most miniscule of the changes he's gone through back then.

This was partially why Alice had been granted such an incredible power instead to do the deed; far easier to control and straight to the point.

"God, you truly never do change," Saya mumbled after he'd shrugged. She shook her head in what looked like distaste, but he knew better.

Especially after his, ah, 'fun time' with Saeko last week. After they'd gone several rounds and accidentally wrecked the dojo in the process, Saeko had told him some things while they'd cuddled.

Including just who else exactly she meant by 'us' when she'd expressed her feelings to him.

But of course, even without her telling, not even he was so dense that he couldn't put two and two together.

And as nervous as he was currently feeling over the little conversation he wanted to have with Saya today, he wasn't too keen on delaying the inevitable with small talk.

"Saya."

His tone of voice was enough to keep the girl from continuing to speak and look at him intently. "…What?"

He quietly swallowed. It took a considerable effort to not scratch the side of his face in nervousness.

So taking a quick second to compose himself, he spoke.

"Saeko told me," he began as he looked at her. "About her feelings for me… and the others too."

 _Including you._

Those two words went unsaid, but he didn't have to so much as utter even a single syllable more for Saya, ever the perceptive one, to realize what he wanted to say.

He kind of expected her to deny the obvious implications in her typical fashion, him having long gotten used to her mannerisms.

So when she ended up closing her eyes, a rapidly darkening blush appearing on her cheeks all the while very much _not_ denying it, well, Takashi couldn't help but be shocked.

"Saya, you…" He began.

"Heh." Saya chuckled just a bit as she opened her eyes after a moment. She looked at him now, her expression most complicated but far from her usual haughtiness. "I should've expected as much from that swords woman. How very like her to go around being so damned blunt… but even if she hadn't… you're not exactly as dense as others would think, Takashi."

That she used his name was yet another sign of how serious she was taking this situation. And as was the case with Rei and Saeko, he couldn't help but sort of shirk away a bit in surprise, albeit mild now.

"Saya… I…." He paused and shook his head. "First Rei, then Saeko and now you…"

"Mhm. Aren't you a ladykiller now, eh?" she responded lightly.

"…Saeko explained to me why, but even then, this is all just…" Takashi mumbled out.

"Heh, just about any other guy would be jumping in joy if they were in your shoes right now. Not every day you learn you have so many beautiful women interested enough in you to be doing things like… well, things like this." She stated this calmly at first, but near the end, she started sounding surprisingly shy, the girl looking away slightly and brushing some loose strands of hair back.

The contrast Takashi was seeing before him between Saya now and how she was normally like made his heart skip a beat. Ever since the apocalypse had ended, he'd really started to become more aware of things around him.

And to now see the pinkette acting like this…

Something down below started to stir just ever so slightly. It was taking a mild effort to keep himself from suddenly getting it up.

"But then, you're not just like any other guy," Saya said, seemingly unaware of the effect she'd just had on him. "You know… I've actually liked you for a long time. Way back when we were kids, even, though I'll admit when you started going through your depression and became distant, my feelings began to wane a fair bit… but ever since that damned apocalypse, I've started to see you in a new light and those old feelings that I thought had died started acting up again. All of those traits that had me fall for you back then made themselves known again along with a few other traits I didn't know you had… and before I even knew it, my feelings got so strong that when Rei and Busujima first approached me and the other two about this, I actually wasn't that opposed to it."

"S-Saya…" Takashi stuttered out, not quite believing what he was hearing.

The expression on his face must have been pretty fucking funny because Saya legitimately giggled, her cheeks looking a little rosy. "Like right now, you see? First time I've ever seen you with an expression like that… it's cute."

Takashi was so shocked that when Saya then used her vector manipulation to pull him out of the chair and towards her, he didn't react.

At least, not until he began to literally fall over her. He had to place his hands on her bed to keep himself from bowling her over. Even then, Saya just casually fell back so that she was lying back on her bed, him just towering over her even in his current position.

And the expression on her face now, the sheer amount of nigh-fervent desire in her eyes…

He couldn't help it – he popped a boner, a very noticeable one at that too, obviously.

And although Saya kept her gaze firmly locked with his own, she wasn't blind to what had just happened, especially not when she could feel his mass brushing up against her.

"Now come on," she said, gently. "Take the lead, just like you did during the apocalypse."

He wasted no time obliging.

* * *

A few days after that and in something of a daze from what's been going on recently, Takashi appeared right before the door to Shizuka's place, a nice little apartment complex with some pretty thick walls from the looks of it.

He had the feeling said thick walls would be coming in handy very soon…

Dressed in the same coat he'd created to visit Saeko, he knocked on the door.

"Come in, it's unlocked!" Shizuka called out, just loud enough for him and only him to hear.

He opened the door and closed it. And took a second to consider locking it, which he ultimately did.

He remained quiet as he scanned the spacious living room for Shizuka, but she wasn't there. And so with just a smidgen of concentration, he listened and located her heartbeat coming from a room at the end of the small hall just nearby.

"Over here~." Her voice was loud and clear and coming from said room.

"Okay, I'm coming," he said.

With just a few careful steps – he was so tall that he had to lean forward considerably to avoid smashing his head through the ceiling – he made to it the room, the door to which was closed.

Feeling nervous yet also excited, he opened the door-.

And as soon as he did, Shizuka, who'd been waiting inside the _bedroom_ , launched herself at him, smothering his mouthless face in numerous kisses.

He took a step back in genuine surprise at how quick Shizuka was to just get down to business.

Takashi then felt her wrap her legs around him as she pulled away, allowing him to stare into her eyes and vice versa.

Yep, there was no doubt about it – she was horny as hell. But it wasn't simply lust in her gaze; there was genuine emotion there too, feelings of great appreciation and admiration and so much more there.

Then Takashi felt two very large masses pressed against him and made the mistake(?) of looking down into the valley of the nurse's massive breasts.

His following gulp was loud and clear and it only seemed to turn Shizuka on that much more somehow, enough for his barely functioning mind to note that the smell of lust on her was even stronger than Saeko's!

How could he not gulp, when she was dressed in nothing more than very tight fitting purple lingerie? And holy hell, he'd always been so focused on her breasts before that it wasn't really until now that he realized just how long and lusciously thick her legs were too…

"There's a lot I need to thank you for, Komuro-kun~," Shizuka said huskily as she pulled herself in close. "And a lot I need to say and do before you leave us for good…"

She didn't sound quite so husky with that last statement, but she then recovered quickly enough.

And on a random note, just when had he wrapped his arms around her? And when had he started to walk towards the bed?

"So!" Shizuka began again. She smiled now almost predatorily. "There's definitely no time to waste." She pulled herself closer against him and tightly too, so tightly that when her breasts smushed even further against him, they popped out of the bra, allowing her hard nipples to start rubbing against him.

"Now what will we 'talk about' first?"

That was all the overblown sexy talk he needed to make his own move now as they both fell onto the bed.

Those thick walls proved most useful indeed.

* * *

The next day, Takashi was walking the halls of Kyouko's building with a bit of pep in his step, having manifested in the nearest stairwell with his coat on and made the rest of the way on foot to Kyouko's place.

Despite his pep, however, his mind wasn't so much focused on the physical acts between him and his four lady friends, but rather on the sheer amount of raw emotion that had been involved each time so far.

"Wow…" He couldn't help but mutter just this one word over and over all day thus far.

It simply blew his mind away, to know now so very intimately how much the others had come to care for him. It all felt like too much to him, felt like he was undeserving of it all despite having slept with them. But without ever even saying this aloud, the others had been aware of his thoughts anyways and had only tripled their intensity during their time together and the sheer outpouring of emotion in even the smallest of movements had been more than to leave him in his current state, which he supposed could be described as being on cloud nine.

But as amazing as it all was, it only made things hurt that much more for him.

To know so much love in so short a time… only to have to leave so very soon and say goodbye, potentially forever… it hurt more than he ever would've imagined.

However, as much as it hurt, he wouldn't trade it for anything else in existence. It was proof of their feelings for him and he'd done his best to show them that he felt just as strongly for each one of them.

And now, as he stood outside Kyouko's place, he resolved to do the same here in this case.

No more feeling nervous or uncertain. No more wishy-washy small talk or beating around the bush in general.

Whatever was going to happen within the next few minutes was going to happen and he was going to do all he could to make magical, literally if he must.

He knocked on the door. He didn't have to wait even a few seconds before Kyouko answered the door, having used the connection established between them to inform her of his coming.

And when the teacher opened the door for him, she wasted no time ushering him inside, smiling at him all the while. He was tempted to try forming a mouth just to return the gesture, but instead could only settle for a deep nod of his head, his mind so utterly focused on what would be happening next that focusing on using his power for even the smallest of things right now was kind of impossible.

"Komuro-kun," Kyouko began. "I'm glad you could come."

He nodded again. "Shizuka told me last night that I shouldn't take too long to visit you."

Kyouko chuckled a bit. "I imagine she said something along the lines of getting this over with so that we can all spend even more time together later, yes?"

Takashi tried not to sound sheepish when he replied. "…Yeah."

Last night, after having made love to one another, Shizuka had cuddled against him and said to see Kyouko as soon as possible, that way they all got their special time with him before having to 'officially start sharing him' as she'd put it, something that the nurse had said she and the others planned to milk for as much time as was possible before he had to leave this world.

"Then in that case," Kyouko began as she stepped towards him. She placed a hand on his chest as he opened his coat. She smiled at him beautifully. "Let's not waste any more time… we know exactly what we both want here."

Indeed.

So without another word spoken, the two of them got started.

And as they proceeded, Takashi's thoughts wandered just a bit, once again amazed at the impact he'd evidently had on his female comrades.

Even after all that's happened, he still didn't feel like he was worthy of their affection like this… but if they would love him so, then he'd do his very best to make sure they didn't regret it.

And if the reaction of Kyouko was anything to go by as he worked his fingers over her voluptuous body, he'd say he didn't have to worry too much about that.

* * *

…

…

…

…

…

Months go by in what felt like a blink of an eye. Several months in fact.

Naturally, it felt like time had gone by far too soon to Takashi. Alas, that was the way of things – here one second, gone the next.

He was currently out in space, observing the earth solemnly.

He's already bid goodbye to everyone – his 'girls,' Hirano, Alice, his parents and neighbors. Saying goodbye had been surprisingly easy, if only because he knew that they all were more than capable of taking care of themselves in this still ever changing world.

Though he'd be lying if he tried telling himself he hadn't attempted to get the Demon to agree to an extension here.

"I'll miss you all," he whispered out in the void of space, feeling so very much like crying.

How could he not cry when he'd also be missing out on the lives of his future children?

Yes, during the past several months when he'd been with his 'girls,' he'd ended up knocking up all of them, much to his parents' bemusement when they'd heard this news.

He worried greatly over what sort of effect his seed would have on his children given his merging with the Demon… not to mention whatever changes the powers may have made to his lovers. However, and much to his surprise, the Demon had assured him quietly that his children would turn out alright physically and all…

But what had worried him was how the rest of the world would treat them. Although the world at large was not aware of his circumstances, with how jumpy everyone still was thanks to the apocalypse not so long ago, any sign of anything even remotely unnatural would cause some chaos.

And if his children turned out to possess who knows what kind of powers and the like… he could only imagine how the world would respond to that.

It'd be a witch hunt.

Even with how strong his lovers were thanks to their powers, not to mention the support they'd naturally be getting from Hirano and his parents and neighbors, Takashi truly didn't want them to be put in any more danger nor have to go on the run for the rest of their lives.

They deserved far more than that.

But thankfully, not too long prior to his departure, a solution had been devised.

And Alice and Kyouko would be vital to this solution.

The young girl, having gotten a bit better at using her power, could use it to create entirely new worlds – no, perhaps alternate worlds or even timelines would be a more proper term, where his lovers could go to live out their lives in peace with his children.

On her own, Alice can make those worlds and he'd already granted her a sliver of his power that would, when she does do this, create the new settings of said worlds down to the smallest details. However, the way Alice's power worked was basically layering these new worlds over the current one, essentially overwriting it.

On her own, there was only so much she could do and if left solely to her, things would only be bound to end in failure.

But that was where Kyouko came in.

Not too long after he'd first gotten together with her and the other girls, she'd finally been able to awaken the power he'd granted her back then but had been dormant the whole time.

On its own, not too useful, but when in conjunction with Alice's, it was truly amazing.

She could create new 'possibilities' – in other words, entirely new timelines on a universal scale. Except that was it. She could make them, but couldn't control how exactly they would differ from the one they were in. And once she made even one, that new timeline will eventually result in the birth of yet another timeline when a different choice was made, which would lead to another timeline being formed where yet another choice was made and on and on this would go for literally every single thing, be it a minor personal decision for one person to even how the universe itself formed in these timelines.

A far simpler way of putting it would basically be that Kyouko had the power to generate a literally infinite number of universes, 4-dimensional space/time continuums and all.

A truly powerful ability but hardly combat applicable. Not to mention kind of bad thing for him since these new timelines will naturally integrate themselves into creation, meaning the Demon will demand he explore those too eventually.

But with Alice's very specific reality-warping ability working in conjunction with her, the two of them could insert the worlds Alice creates into these different timelines, allowing some meager measure of control.

And it was this solution that would hopefully be his lovers' and future children's salvation.

By all rights, this really was a perfect solution, all things considered. But even so, he couldn't help but worry as was typical of him, really.

But he tempered his worry as best as he could with faith, faith in his lovers and friends. After all, they'd all pulled through that apocalypse together, so surely something of this nature shouldn't be too hard a challenge for them.

Or so he liked to think right now.

But regardless of what exactly would happen, he still had to leave right now. He was no longer a being that could remain on this plain of existence anymore.

And besides, the Demon was starting to get antsy now.

Staring for just a moment longer at the world, Takashi then nodded to himself and to the Demon.

And so, without another word spoken, Takashi faded out of this universe….

And his journey to the rest of creation began in earnest.

* * *

Following his departure, his lovers and friends literally felt him leave, an event that resulted in many tears being shed.

But also vows being silently made.

Just as they trusted in him to perhaps one day return, they knew he trusted in them to do what they could for this world.

And in the case of his lovers – Rei, Saeko, Saya, Shizuka, and Kyouko – do what they could to keep their pregnant selves safe.

It was perhaps another month or so before Alice and Kyouko finally joined their powers together to carry out the solution that had been conceived prior to Takashi's leaving, the lovers having spent that time with their own friends and families in preparation of their own departures.

When the time came, Kyouko and Alice carried out their duties, focusing the new worlds around them as they formed.

Shizuka, the first of them to be impregnated, was taken to a new world where people known as magi and shinobi would one day come to exist. Here she would give birth to twins, the oldest a boy and the youngest a girl, where the latter would then go on to be the progenitor of clan named the Namikazes.

Saeko, the second of the five to be with child, ended up in a world where people known as Blazers would one day be born, able to summon weapons known as Devices to fight with, much like herself.

Rei, third to bear Takashi's children, would end up in a world that would soon fall into an economic decline following a catastrophe known as Invertia, a meteor shower.

Kyouko was the fourth to get pregnant and thanks to the very nature of her power, ended up giving birth to not just one type of being, but two other types as well – human, god, and demon. The world she'd given birth in would one day experience a war between demons and heroes, humans who were granted special powers by the gods and even formed a Hero Clan as a result. The war between them would eventually end when a demon named Wilbert became the new demon lord and put an end to it.

And finally, Saya, last of them to bear Takashi's children, comfortably settled into a world where steam-powered engines would rapidly rise in the 1900s… and where an academy known as the Marseille Offshore Academia would be formed on an artificial island.

In each of these worlds, the women and their children would live in peace, a peace that was all due to Takashi's efforts as well as their own. But one day in the far distant future, their descendants would be dragged into numerous battles worthy of being chronicled.

And back on their original world, society would eventually recover for good following Takashi's and by extension the Demon's departure from the universe.

Takeru and Iroha Komuro would go on to live the rest of their days in relative peace, cheerfully continuing their respective teaching careers. They remained proud until the very end of their son who they hoped was still doing well out there in the great beyond.

Thanks to the healing Shizuka's magical weapon had provided, Kohta Hirano, with his legs restored and with him looking much slimmer overall now, would proceed to continue down the path of gun otaku-hood, becoming a famous gun instructor and even military drill sergeant whose enthusiastic gun training would lead to a sharp rise in master marksmen and women all around the world. He did his best to keep the power granted to him by Takashi hidden and would eventually settle down with a drop-dead gorgeous woman who was just as big a gun nut as he was and also was blessed with 'big bazookas' as Kohta put it.

They'd go onto have three successful kids that also took after their gun/military obsessions and become top-notch workers in the police force and JSDF.

On a semi-related note, Kohta would also be called in by none other than Rei's father to assist him in finally apprehending an elusive Koichi Shido, who'd gone into hiding following his revival alongside everyone else.

Alice Maresato, together with her revived parents, would grow up to be a very happy and beautiful young woman, never once forgetting those that she'd looked up. She would remain in regular contact with the Komuros, Miyamotos, and Takagis as well as Kohta and his new family over the course of her life. She would grow up to become a child care worker, working diligently to ensure any and every child she met within her line of work would be properly cared for, just as her parents and friends had cared for her.

She also ended up adopting a small dog that she named Zeke in honor of the dog that had always been by her side during the apocalypse. This dog would live many years alongside her as she eventually settled down and started a very happy family of her own, having four beautiful kids of her own with a wonderful husband.

And all the while, the world continued to move on, eventually returning to normal as much as could be possible. For the horrible memories of that apocalypse still persisted, reminding everyone that had died and then been revived during that time of just how fragile and transient they really were, like mayflies…

But it was precisely because of this that they came to appreciate and cherish their lives that much more.

For they never knew, just when exactly something else may come along to snuff them out.

* * *

 **God above, it's all over now. As short as this fic was, it feels really sad for me to now end it like this. But damn, at the risk of sounding like I'm tooting my own horn, I'd say I did a good job at ending it on a high note!**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this epilogue as much as you had enjoyed the rest of this fic – and will also look forward to any and all future fics that I do!**

 **This had been one short but wild ride for me and I'm more than a little eager to see if the worlds the girls ended up in will prompt any of you into trying to look up the series that I'd hinted at there with the info, especially since I do plan to one day make fics about them, just not sure when exactly that'll be.**

 **Again, just thank you guys so much for having followed this fic to the end! And I hope to see you enjoying my next fic too whenever I get around to it.**

 **Take care, everyone!**


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